ALBANY, N.Y. – New York Education Commissioner John King spent the past several months on a Common Core “listening tour” during which parents and teachers explained how the new learning standards and related tests are negatively affecting their students’ education.

On Monday, King finally replied to his critics with a seven-page letter that reaffirms the state’s support for Common Core and blames much of the parental and teacher unhappiness to the “misinformation” surrounding the new standards.

King begins his letter by acknowledging the implementation of Common Core has been troublesome in many school districts, but he defends the chaos by repeating the empty claim that the new math and English learning standards are “essential” to students’ success in college and the workplace.

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He also addresses the “misinformation” surrounding Common Core testing. King notes that many parents and teachers believe the number of standardized tests has increased due to Common Core, but he writes “the facts are otherwise and clear.”

King writes that all but two assessments are required by federal law, and assures readers that New York officials are looking for ways to shorten the tests, including by reducing the overall number of questions asked.

King sidesteps the biggest concern many parents and educators have, namely that state officials – partially through the data generated by Common Core-related assessments – are collecting students’ sensitive and personal information, storing the information on a state database, and sharing that information with K-12 technology companies.

As one New York parent (and school principal) told King during an early stop in his listening tour:

“We do not want inBloom (a K-12 technology company) or any 3rd party vendor to have access to our children’s once private and confidential information. We know it’s now legal because those in power literally changed federal law in 2011 just so they can do what they are currently doing. We demand an immediate cease and desist on this wide-spread data collection and specifically, the now mandated ‘Data Dashboard.’”

The only acknowledgement of that growing controversy in King’s letter is a paragraph defending the use of “item-level performance data” to improve teachers’ instruction techniques.

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Instead of addressing those very real concerns, King does what virtually all politicians do when they’re facing an unhappy public: He calls for a huge increase in spending to pacify his critics.

In his letter, King writes that the Board of Regents has proposed a $125 million Core Instruction Development Fund “to encourage and facilitate educator and parent learning about the Common Core.”

In addition to serving as a kind of slush fund for Common Core propaganda, the Core Instruction Development Fund would also be used to pay for “significantly more professional development” in school districts in which “district leaders and their bargaining units have committed to systems change.”

New York’s top education leader adds that lawmakers will be asked to provide funding that will help districts “eliminate multiple-choice stand-alone field tests” and purchase new instructional materials and computers to help “support” the transition to Common Core.

King’s letter also contains various guarantees that state officials will adjust and tweak policies to help schools better implement Common Core.

“We want – and need – to hear from teachers, parents, and students as these important changes in practice occur in classrooms, schools, and communities across the state,” King writes.

He ends the letter by writing that “teaching is the core of our work.”

“Lasting and meaningful improvements in teaching and learning happen only when educators work together to improve over time with the proper supports,” King writes. “We must teach our way through this moment.”

King’s overall message is clear: Common Core is here to stay, regardless of what educators and parents have to say about it.

The only upside for Common Core critics is that 2014 is also an election year. New Yorkers will have their chance to find and select leaders who will actually listen to the legitimate concerns they have about their children’s education.