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JOINT RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO SUPPORT THE PRESERVATION OF THE TRADITION IN MAINE OF LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS' SELECTING THE EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS TO BE USED BY THEIR PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS
WE, your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in the Second Regular Session, most respectfully present and petition the Secretary of the United States Department of Education, the Honorable Arne Duncan, as follows:
WHEREAS,  local school boards in the State of Maine have always selected textbooks and other curriculum materials to provide the best education possible for the children in the public schools of Maine; and
WHEREAS,  local school boards choose curriculum materials with the guidance of the Maine Learning Results; and
WHEREAS,   a number of states have statewide school boards that select the educational materials for all of their students and publishers of textbooks and educational materials often gear the content of their educational materials to those states; and
WHEREAS,  federal education standards require all states to adopt common core standards and we in Maine are confident in the Maine Learning Results and want to apply our own methods to meet the federal education standards in order to preserve the integrity of the decision-making process in Maine; and
WHEREAS,  the State of Maine has just approved the so-called Common Core of educational standards and wishes to maintain the tradition of selecting textbooks and materials to make certain the standards of education are met; and
WHEREAS,  our belief is that textbook and curriculum materials are best selected by local school boards using the guidance of the Maine Learning Results and the rigorous academic scrutiny of curriculum specialists; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That We, your Memorialists, on behalf of the people we represent, take this opportunity to urge and request that Maine's Commissioner of Education uphold and support the tradition of academic independence and integrity exercised by local school boards in the State of Maine in selecting appropriate textbooks and materials for their school districts; and be it further
RESOLVED: That We, your Memorialists, urge and request that the United States Department of Education respect and support the integrity of the Maine State Legislature in its decision to uphold the tradition of local school boards' selecting curriculum materials for the instruction of their public school students; and be it further
RESOLVED: That suitable copies of this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to the Honorable Arne Duncan, United States Secretary of Education, to Maine's Commissioner of Education and to each Member of the Maine Congressional Delegation.