STATE HOUSE — Education and religious advocates on Monday called for the relocation of a portrait depicting the state's twenty-third governor, referring to him as "a symbol of bigotry" for his party's support of a constitutional amendment they say restricts school choice.
A member of the short-lived "Know Nothing" political party, Gov. Henry Gardner served from 1855 through 1858. During that time members of the political movement successfully ushered through a constitutional amendment prohibiting public money from being used to fund certain institutions, like religious schools.
In the 19th century, cattle rustlers rebranded cattle to hide the fact that certain cows actually belonged to someone else. Today "rebranding" is a widely used marketing strategy in which a new name or logo design is created for an established product in order to create a better image of the product in the minds of consumers. It is usually an attempt to fool the public into thinking that something old is actually something new or different.
"Rebranding" is exactly how state departments and boards of education are dealing with Common Core in the face of strong parent and teacher opposition to the federally backed standards. By changing the names of the standards or tests that measure such standards, but keeping the standards aligned with Common Core, policymakers have duped many unsuspecting stakeholders into believing their concerns have been addressed. They have not.
