Common Core Standards Michigan Funding Legislation (State Superintendent Mike Flanagan)

State superintendent calls on senators to reject defunding Common Core education standards

By Brian Smith | bsmith11@mlive.com 
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on May 29, 2013 at 12:42 PM, updated May 29, 2013 at 12:59 PM

LANSING -- With Senate approval of a new budget pending, State Superintendent Mike Flanagan called on lawmakers Wednesday to reject a provision already approved by the state House of Representatives barring funding for implementation of the National Common Core State Standards for mathematics and English/language arts instruction.

Flanagan's statement came in response to accusations made by Republican lawmakers in the House that legislators and Michigan residents had not had an opportunity to comment on the standards, which were formally adopted by the State Board of Education in June 2010.

According to the Michigan Department of Education, more than 600 comments on the standards were received during a public comment period held prior to adoption, and the MDE also solicited input from legislators in March 2010.

“Based on these insights, we are hopeful that the legislature realizes that the public has been involved already and schools are working diligently to implement the Common Core State Standards,” Flanagan said, "so I hope the legislature will do the right thing and not approve this provision in the state budget.”

Rep. Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills) said yesterday after the budget passed the House that education department officials were using "the sky is falling rhetoric" to describe the potential effects of blocking funding for the standards.

"It is unfortunate that the Michigan Department of Education has used 'the sky is falling' false rhetoric applied to a pause in the budget on implementing Common Core. This pause will allow Michigan citizens to weigh in, for the first time, on whether we should hand over authority on standards taught in all our public schools to a private trade association (NGA) or not," McMillan said.

The standards were developed over several years by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers with input from teachers, principals, administrators and business leaders.

Martin Ackley, director of MDE's public and government affairs office, countered McMillin's statement on Wednesday, saying the language of the budget provision was not a "pause," but a full stop.

"This is an outright prohibition ('shall not'), with no guarantee that the prohibition will be lifted," Ackley said, quoting the provision's language. "This is a flight that local schools have been on for three years and now they will be forced to shut down the engines at 10,000 feet. It’s not the sky that is falling – it’s the airplane."

Rep. Sam Singh (D-East Lansing), who spoke in opposition to the provision prior to the House vote, said he was "surprised and disappointed" that the standards have become controversial.

"This is something that's been discussed for years," Singh said. "The concern I have is there's a lot of misinformation going around."

Opponents of the standards have decried them as a federal takeover of curriculum decisions, and several witnesses at a House Education Committee meeting on the standards expressed concern about their adoption.

"It doesn't dictate a national curriculum," Singh said. "I'm baffled this has turned into such an issue."

School districts across Michigan have been implementing the standards in their classrooms since their adoption by the state education board, a fact Ackley cited in support of the guidelines.

"Local school districts have been working for three years, and spent hundreds of hours in planning and implementing the high-quality Common Core State Standards for their students to be career- and college-ready. This provision in the bill will leave school boards, administrators, teachers and parents with no clear direction on how they continue planning their locally-developed curricula to meet the state standards," Ackley said.

The Senate adjourned Wednesday without taking up the budget measure. Lawmakers are not expected to return to the Capitol until next Tuesday as legislators attend theMackinac Policy Conference.

Brian Smith is the statewide education and courts reporter for MLive. Email him atbsmith11@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.