After more than an hour of debate, a resolution to phase out common core standards in South Dakota schools fails in the House of Representatives. Common Core is a set of standards most states have adopted for achievement benchmarks in English and Math. Debate centers on local control of education standards and how common core is implemented. Legislators have varying opinions on what common core standards require of schools.
More than a dozen Representatives voice their opinion before the final vote of House Concurrent Resolution 1008. Supporters of the resolution say they've heard overwhelming constituent concerns against common core standards in schools.
Representative Jim Bolin brings the resolution forward and says he's concerned about the origin of the standards and where they will lead the state. He says it's an attempt by the federal government to centralize education and take away diversity.
“The structure of American education is unique because the decentralized pattern of schools in our nation, and especially here in South Dakota, reflects some of our most deeply held values. People in South Dakota want at least a measure of say in their local school, and citizens can see how the common core initiative will remove any chance for them to have any meaningful input to their local school, other than perhaps who will be hired as the football coach,” Bolin says.
Bolin says common core standards were never tested in schools before being implemented. He says schools should use standards that are established by South Dakotans.
Opponents of the resolution argue the standards are meant as a base, and that schools still have the local control to decide the curriculum and resources used to meet those standards. Representative Paula Hawks speaks against HCR 1008.
“I’ve been very disappointed in the campaign of fear that I am seeing in the anti-common core rhetoric. I attended a meeting in Crooks, just to see what was going on. I heard primarily a litany of emotional and uninformed opinions. I know common core will offer a challenge to our schools and our families. I know it offers a challenge to our schools and to our teachers and to our students—I think that’s what education is about, challenging our students,” Hawks says.
Other opponents say the state should embrace interstate standards to ensure no student misses a subject if he or she were to move to a different state. House Concurrent Resolution 1008 fails with 31 in favor, 35 against.
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