Parents Across America: Stop wasting our tax dollars on failed reforms

Rita Solnet is a co-founder of Parents Across America and a parent and businesswoman from Florida. She spoke at the SOS March on Washington D.D. rally in a speech titled: "Stop wasting our tax dollars on failed reforms."

"I’ve witnessed how this obsessive focus on standardized tests converted schools to test prep factories. Schools no longer have time for Music, Arts, Literature, PE, Social Studies, Languages, Civics. So don’t talk to me about Innovation. No, you can’t fool me.

I don’t want to burst your bubble test, but this is not good education!

I’ve watched how we now teach our children how to guess at bubble tests– as if the answer to all life’s problems will be placed in front of them to choose.

I see how everything rides on these scores–teachers salaries, their jobs, whether the school remains open–it all falls on the shoulders of that one child taking that one test on that one day. Is that what you mean by Game Changer? You can’t fool me.

We are abandoning entire segments of our nation for the sake of collecting useless data — that’s right –useless. The children nor the teacher never see the results. Right answers, wrong answers, where they need to improve–who knows? They never see it. Does that make sense to any of you here?

I’m here today to add my voice to yours to appeal to common sense in education.

I’m here today to say stop wasting my tax dollars on failed reforms. NCLB never worked–it put us in this mess.

I’m asking this Administration and Capitol Hill to listen with a Capital L. Listen to those in the trenches — Listen to informed parents — Listen to your constituents.

I’m not alone. There are many parents here today. We’re here today to give the Dept of Education a Robo Call of our own! Right?

I’m the co founder of Parents Across America and we are here today in full force.

Our members scrimped and saved for months to be here. We lobbied all day Thursday in appointments on Capitol Hill. Parents Across America are here today — not just from DC–not just from Maryland or Virginia–we are here today from:

Seattle, Spokane, from San Francisco and Los Angeles—from Phoenix, Denver, Madison, Wisconsin and from Chicago, Portland, Oregon and New Orleans– from North Carolina, from Pennsylvania, from New Jersey, from New York and from Florida."

Read her speech in its entirety here.