In New Mexico, hundreds of high school students are walking out of class in protest of the new Common Core-aligned tests just implemented in the state. This is part of larger movement nationwide by parents and students to protest the standards, while without waiting for state legislatures to act.

Common Core education standards have attracted criticism from across the political spectrum due to lack of choice and competition inherent in a top-down, federal mandate. Students succeed when parents and teachers have flexibility to tailor their education programs to individual children, celebrating rather than ignoring their differences.

The United States education system is home to many thousands of teachers. Some are good, some are less good, and some stand head and shoulders above the rest, setting an example in educational excellence that others can only hope to achieve.

When Common Core standards first passed in 2010, teachers unions were cautiously optimistic. After a glimpse of their implementation, however, that enthusiasm quickly began to sour. In 2014, the National Education Association, which once supported the standards, launched unambiguous criticism against the program, calling its rollout “completely botched.”

The massive unpopularity of Common Core education standards has served as a rallying cry for concerned parents and teachers to get involved in politics—sometimes for the first time in their lives. Nothing galvanizes grassroots activism like the realization that the government is failing our children. These efforts have been remarkably successful, with three states repealing Common Core outright last year, and many state-level bills already being introduced in the new Congress.

As one of our more than 6.7 million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your senators today and ask them to support Senator Mike Crapo’s Local Leadership in Education Act “to prohibit the Federal Government from mandating, incentivizing, or making financial support conditional upon a State, local educational agency, or school’s adoption of specific instructional content, academic standards, or curriculum, or on the administration of assessments or tests, and for other purposes,” and to co-sponsor the bill if they have not already done so.

It’s a new year, and the state legislatures have come roaring back into session chock full of ideas to stop the Common Core education standards that are damaging school systems all across the country. Last year, we saw Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Carolina withdraw from the standards, and 2015 looks to be off to a good start.

As one of our more than 6.7 million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your senators today and urge them to support Senator Pat Roberts’ Learning Opportunities Created at the Local Level (LOCAL) Act “to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to prohibit Federal education mandates, and for other purposes,” and to co-sponsor the bill if they have not already done so.

Last month, president Obama quietly put forward a new plan to establish a rating system for colleges and universities, designed and overseen by the U.S. Department of education, which would then be used to determine funding levels for these institutions. It’s the continuation of a worrying trend of more federal involvement in education that includes No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, Common Core Education Standards, Head Start, and the president’s new scheme to make the first two years of community college free.