Common Core Opponents Expecting Protesters From Across The State

Bruce Ackerman / Ocala Star-Banner/Landov

P.G. Schafer, a Tea Party member, holds a sign to protest Common Core across the street from Marion Technical Institute where school administrators were meeting on Southeast Fort King Street in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, April 3, 2013.

A group organizing a protest Saturday at an Orlando conference for new common education standards is expecting caravans of protesters from around the state and country will join them.

Florida Parents Against Common Core expects groups from Southwest Florida, Port St. Lucie, West Palm, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia will join them at 11:30 Saturday morning near the JW Marriott hotel.

Laura Zorc, an organizer with the group, says the goal is to convince the legislature to approve a bill which would delay Common Core implementation so it can be studied. Zorc also wants a study to determine whether the standards violate the state constitution or U.S. Constitution.

The hotel is hosting a national two-day training session on the Common Core State Standards.

Florida is one of 45 states which have adopted the English, literacy and math standards. They are scheduled to be fully implemented in Florida schools in the fall of 2014.

Critics worry the common standards will mean a loss of local control  over education decisions, worry about the cost and oppose an increase in standardized testing and collection of student data, among other concerns.

A FreedomWorks training session for activists has been rescheduled after the original location cancelled the group’s reservations. Organizers are only sending the new location to those interested in attending.

Common Core opponents have found success in Indiana and other states, but have yet to gain much traction in Florida.