Debbie Fort: Common Care is taking away our local control

In an interview with KZRG, Joplin R-8 Board of Education candidate Debbie Fort talks about the problems with Common Core Standards, how district finances became such a mess, and how our schools have become a testing factory.

"Common Core is taking away our local control," Mrs. Fort said, noting that while the idea was good, the implementation was not. She cited problems with the federal government using it as a carrot to lure states who were sick of No Child Left Behind and the standards being developmentally inappropriate for younger students.

Also, she noted, "we are being tested to death." She noted that Joplin students are tested 16 times a year.

Mrs. Fort said blaming the district's financial problems, which include a reserve fund that has fallen to five percent, is overlooking spending problems, including national and international travel and extra layers of administrators.