A state committee held a public hearing Thursday to discuss a bill that could eliminate Wisconsin’s Common Core State Standards.
The bill was introduced last month by state Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, and would create a board of parents and educators responsible for developing new academic standards for key subject areas such as math, English, science and social studies.
Wisconsin adopted its current standards in 2010, which center on English and mathematics. The Common Core State Standards Initiative was coordinated by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers with the goal of better preparing students for careers and higher education.
If Common Core were to remain in place, Wisconsin’s 2014-’15 state assessments would be based on CCSS. If the bill is signed into law, a board would be appointed to create new standards and develop new assessments.
According to a statement from Deputy State Superintendent Mike Thompson, the bill would waste nearly four years of work put toward reaching more rigorous education standards.
“Abandoning the Common Core would upend educator effectiveness systems, standards in other subject areas, school and district report cards, the countless hours of work done by higher education to align their educator preparation program curriculum, district and state staff development efforts to implement the standards and the curriculum and materials districts are using,” according to a statement from the Department of Public Instruction.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers also voiced concerns that creating the new board could lead to legislators writing and approving new standards.
Vukmir has disagreed with Evers since the bill was introduced Feb. 18.
“I know it goes against his talking points, but this bill will not lead to Legislators writing the state standards,” Vukmir said in a February release. “If he would actually read the bill, the Model Academic Standards board, through their subcommittees, will be tasked with writing Wisconsin’s future standards.”
A vote has not been scheduled for the current draft of the bill, as at least five Republican senators oppose the legislation.
