i call it a happy new year nastygram. [laughter] as a result of parents exercising their god-given, unalienable rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children, they decided to opt their children out of common core tests. what do we get in return? this letter from the u.s. department of education sending tips to the state chiefs on how you can threaten schools and how you can threaten students. essentially, this letter is threatening to withhold our money from our students and our schools unless we tow the line. there's a word for this kind of relationship, and it's not partnership. it's time to end federal control through the u.s. department of education. now, efforts to abolish the department of education began almost immediately after it was first established both in 1867 and again in 1979. each time these efforts failed because neither truly sought to abolish the department of education. instead, for example, beginning in 1868 the department was downgraded, changed what we called the department, it was