In South Carolina, some parents are claiming they were threatened with jail time from the state's Department of Education for letting their children sit out of state-administered exams as the opt-out movement continues nationwide.

One member of South Carolina Parents Involved in Education, Tamara Hood, said "the state Education Department’s Chief Operating Officer, Elizabeth Carpentier, warned parents could spend 30 days in jail if even a single day of testing is missed," according to WND.com.

Hood also said she was told "groups that encourage parents to refuse the Common Core-aligned tests could be charged with aiding and abetting a crime."

The state agency’s public information office, however, said that parents were never threatened with jail time or any other criminal sanctions but rather were reminded of truancy provisions in state statures.

As the opt-out movement rages on and historic amounts of children are sitting out of standardized tests this year, many speculate what the consequences will be.

Weeks ago, Education Secretary Arne Duncan "criticized parents who opt out of testing, charging they are hurting minorities and the disabled" and warned that if states don't remedy the high number of opt-outs, the federal government will have to step in.

For one South Carolina parent, Artie Allen, there's no sympathy to be had.

Operator of the Facebook page "Stop Common Core in South Carolina," he said, "“We got the sob story from one of our 3 kids schools that we kept our kids home from [testing] today that we could cause them to lose federal money. Maybe you should have thought about that before you took the money in the first place!!"

Certainly, regardless of their stance, tensions are rising as both sides of the issues wait for government response to the opt-out movement.

Read the full story here and comment below

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

05/05/2015