Every spring, thousands of teachers across New York City are pulled from their classroom, and their teaching responsibilities, to grade standardized tests. Rather than pay qualified professionals outside of school hours to do this tedious work, NYC schools, teachers, and students are forced to bear the burden of preparing for, administering, and finally grading these tests. Although many parents are aware of the great deal of time lost preparing for and administering standardized tests, many do not realize that students continue to lose valuable instructional time after the test, when their teachers are pulled for days and weeks at a time in order to grade for the city. Here are some facts that you may not know about standardized testing in New York City: *Schools are obligated to send content-area teachers to grade the tests, and to pay for substitutes to replace each teacher while they are gone. One typical middle school is obligated to send 8 English teachers to grade, for five days a piece, and 4 math teachers, for 6 days each. At a price of $150.00 per substitute per day, that school will pay $9,600 out of their limited budget, just to cover missing staff who has been pulled to grade exams. *Much of the recent controversy over a new teacher evaluation plan has centered around the use of student test data to rate the effectiveness of teachers. Simply put, most educators don't believe that standardized test data should be used to judge the effectiveness of teachers and students, although many bureaucrats disagree. Ironically, pulling teachers from their classrooms to grade tests sends a contradictory message - if teachers are so vital to a child's education that they can be ranked and graded according to test scores, then why can they be pulled from their classrooms for upwards of 5 days, and replaced by non-certified substitute teachers who know neither their curriculum nor their students? *Pearson Education, Inc. is currently in possession of a 5-year, $32 million contract to administer standardized testing in the state of New York. Their contract also includes an inside track to selling curriculum and textbooks within the state. A cloud of controversy has shadowed both the circumstances of this lucrative contract and the content of the actual tests, many of which received negative publicity in 2012 for their ambiguous and confusing wording and answers. These tests were developed completely independent of NYC public school teachers and their classrooms; yet the onus and price of grading them rests squarely upon the shoulders of public schools and their teachers. In a public school such as my own, the large population of special education students is serviced by a team of trained educators. My class has two teachers, one certified in special education, so that we can align curriculum and work in small groups to meet the needs of all students. Each year, when I am pulled to grade standardized tests for a minimum of five days at a stretch, I am replaced by a substitute who is not certified in my content-area, and does not know my students or the curriculum. Students whose teachers are pulled to grade often end up engaging in inferior classwork, watching movies, and generally slacking off while their classroom teachers are off grading tests, whose data is used to determine everything from the success of their principal to whether they will pass seventh grade. As a teacher, my job is to instruct and administer to the needs of my students, not grade standardized tests. Teachers, schools, and students should not be obligated the bear the burden of excessive standardized testing. Please leave teachers in the classrooms with their students, where they belong.

The state of UT currently has no regulations regarding students who are homeschooled. The purpose of this petition is to bring awareness to this issue and to start requiring parents who homeschool to provide test scores, and/or professional evaluations, plus a state-approved curriculum. There are several states who uphold this caliber of responsibility; these states include Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and North Dakota. I have been personally affected by this issue in regards to my own step children who are currently being homeschooled by their mother. It is obvious these kids are very behind in their studies and unfortunately their father has no legal bearing to make sure they are receiving a proper education. Essentially his hands are tied. Please sign this petition in an effort to make sure Utah's homeschooled kids are being prepared for college and are receiving the same opportunities to learn as those in public and private schools.

Gov. Mitch Daniels "found" over $500 million in funds that had been "lost" when the last 2 budgets were developed. That money needs to be restored to the K-12 Education budget in order to make our schools whole again. Public school education should be the top priority for the state legislature.

Teacher Pensions I have worked for over thirty-five years teaching. During that time, I have spent much of my own money to buy supplemental supplies. I have done that willingly. I am looking forward to my pension but know that even if it stands as it is now, I will have to supplement that with part-time work. Please do not change what I have coming to me.

For four years in a row, the governor has used a "Gap Elimination Adjustment" to remove millions of dollars in "promised" State Aid to public schools in New York. What's worse is that this adjustment is not based on community wealth factors so poorer schools get hurt more than wealthier schools.

Rick Brattin is proposing Intelligent Design/Creation be required teaching and given equal time in every science classroom in Missouri, including college level classes, prohibiting families from making their own choice. This will also require the schools to spend money on new text books on or including Intelligent Design. Tell the MO Legislature NO on HB 291.

It is unbelievable that some states and specially Texas cannot fund its schools when the money is available. The workforce of the future needs well educated and prepared personnel who can contribute to the nation, specially in the field of research and technology. The United staes must compete with toher nations and keep high standards in order to do it through a strong educational system. I expect all legislators to encourage better training and support so the United States creates mathematicians, scientists and technology that will move us forward.

Paying for our childrens education is the responsibility of ALL taxpayers. Robbing the teachers retirement fund, like was done in 2003, is not a "constitutional funding mechanism for Oregon's future" as was stated by the Speaker of the House, Tina Kotek. For the first 25 years of teaching, my wife and I planned our retirement, which was reflected to us by the State of Oregon's annual PERS statments. As stated in the "Contract Clause" and the 2005 Oregon Supreme Court decision stating that "decades long pension contributions are considered a labor contract." Therfore all economic working conditions MUST BE BARGAINED. They can not be unilaterally changed, and then be construed to be Constitutional.

I have not been personally affected by the dropping of Head Start from Attleboro, but no one is speaking for the Attleboro residents who would benefit from Head Start. Please pay attention to providing a proven program for children in a community that has many English Language Learners and many families living in poverty.

It was shocking to me to learn that physical, violent and potentially injurious methods are still being used on our children in public schools. In order to prevent your child from being spanked, you have to submit a letter to the school specifying NOT to spank your child.

Guns - especially automatic weapons, which should be used solely in war zones - have no place in schools

As a parent and teacher I have seen the use of standardized tests stifle creativity and problem solving skills by taking over the curriculum in our public schools. Teachers are now spending weeks at a time teaching test taking strategies, drilling kids with rote memorization facts because they know this is how they and their students will be evaluated. Reading and math dominate the curriculum so there is hardly any time for science and social studies. The tests are not a reliable predictor of how smart or talented a student is or how good a teacher is. This must end for the sake of education.