Michigan: Common Core State Standards Legislation (Update)

New education guides likely on hold

House committee hears arguments on funding Common Core standards,with 3 sessions to go

By Kathleen Gray Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

   LANSING — New standards for Michigan’s students, which were approved by the state Board of Education three years ago, probably won’t get a stamp of approval for funding — or rejection — from the state Legislature until after school starts in the fall.

   Common Core standards, which have been adopted by 45 states, including Michigan, were described in a legislative hearing Tuesday as tools to help K-12 students be better prepared for work or college when they graduate from high school.

   The standards, which were developed by the National Governors Association with help from Michigan Superintendent Mike Flanagan and William Schmidt, director of Michigan State University’s Education Policy Center, are designed to make students think more critically and enable them to be better problem solvers.

   “We want the best foundation possible to ensure college and work expectations for our students,” Flanagan said during a hearing Tuesday of the House Education Committee. “And we’ve got a really powerful and strong agreement with higher education that students need these critical reading and math skills.”

   But opponents of Common Core said the standards are a thinly veiled federal takeover of curriculum.

   “It’s taking away local control,” said state Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, one of the leading opponents of Common Core. “We are turning our standards over to the National Governors Association.”

   McMillin, who successfully added an amendment to the state budget removing any funding to implement the Common Core standards, also complained that the development of the curriculum was cloaked in secrecy without meeting minutes or public input.

   Flanagan noted that the state Board of Education asked the Legislature, school districts and parent-teacher organizations for input when they were developing the state’s Common Core standards three years ago. The statewide, bipartisan elected-body held two public meetings to discuss and tweak those standards before unanimously approving them.

   “I’m trying to control my exasperation,” Flanagan said after the hearing. “Because this isn’t new. They were all advised of what was going on, and they had a chance to give input to the board.”

   The committee has three more hearings — the next is July 30 — before it will vote on whether to provide the funding for Common Core.

   Committee Chairman Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw, said he would like to have the issue wrapped up before the budget takes effect at the start of the new fiscal year, Oct. 1.

   But that doesn’t help teachers now, as they prepare lesson plans in preparation for the Sept. 3 return of students to school.

   “My hope is that they’re going to do the right thing and approve the funding for this,” Flanagan said, noting that if legislators don’t, the state will have to go back to the MEAP test, which doesn’t pass national muster.

   Contact Kathleen Gray: 517-372-8661 or kgray99@freepress.com