North Carolina is one step closer to doing away with the Common Core. A House Committee approved the measure yesterday.
The bill’s sponsors worry getting rid of Common Core standards right away would force North Carolina to give back millions in federal grant money. So Representative Bryan Holloway of Stokes County said they chose this route.
“This bill does replace Common Core, but it does not rip the rug out from under us today,” he said.
The Common Core was developed to help states raise standards and come up with a common set of expectations for what students should know. The bill would give a commission about a year to figure out new standards.
“It’s not going to flip the school system upside down on its head, but there are some things in Common Core that we feel is inappropriate for schools. We don’t think it’s the right direction for us to go,” said Holloway.
The members of the commission would mostly be appointed by the House Speaker and the President Pro-Tem of the Senate. They could use parts of the Common Core to construct the state’s new standards, although the bill would prohibit them from adopting all of them, even if they found they were good. That doesn’t make sense to Representative Charles Jeter of Mecklenburg County.
“We’re asking a committee to study what’s in the best interest of North Carolina students. ‘Oh, by the way, you can’t study this. Oh, by the way, you can’t look at this. So you can do whatever you want, but you can’t use your left hand,’” said Jeter.
The bill is now headed to the House Appropriations Committee full House.
