Common Core hearings stacked with experts paid by Tea Party

Half the experts scheduled to testify on new Common Core teaching standards this week were handpicked by state Tea Party activists critical of the new program, according to a chief organizer.

The Senate Education Committee is conducting hearings Thursday and Friday to review the controversial new standards after tea party groups began criticizing the program for nationalizing education, passing the costs down to taxpayers and using data mining to invade individual privacy.