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State Representative Jim Buchy
Taking Steps to
Remove and Replace Common Core
Common Core, an attempt at nationalizing education standards, has been
a hot topic in Columbus and the west central Ohio for over a year
now. Efforts have been made in the House Education Committee to
repeal the standards and or limit the impacts of the Common Core on our
schools. Some attempts at limiting the impacts of the Common Core have
been successful and are being implemented, but a full repeal of the
Common Core has proved a difficult feat.
Fortunately, state legislators are willing to fight this battle. The
first of two bills introduced for a full repeal of the Common Core was
first brought forward by Representative Andy Thompson around a year and
a half ago. The House Bill 237 faced challenges in committee, but
Representative Matt Huffman of Lima has led the effort to use an
unusual procedure to provide a path to repeal the Common Core.
Representative Thompson and Representative Huffman are sponsoring House
Bill 597 jointly, which builds from the work of the first Common Core
repeal bill, House Bill 237, that was not ready to be considered by
legislators. Together, the legislators have organized a host of
expert witnesses that have provided more feedback and improvements so
that the final result will be a bill that can move forward and
successfully repeal the Common Core.
The bill has been referred to the House Rules and Reference Committee
for discussion. As with any other bill, anyone who would like to
speak on behalf of or against HB 597 has a chance to do so during this
time. We want to be sure that the interests of Ohioans are represented
concerning Common Core. I think with Representative Huffman’s steadfast
leadership and expertise in this area, the legislation will be properly
scrutinized in order to ensure that Ohio students receive the best
education possible.
The purpose of the Rules and Reference committee is to oversee each
bill introduced to legislature. The committee assigns each bill to a
specific committee and then refers it back to the House floor once a
committee has reviewed it. This is an unusual measure to hear House
Bill 597 in the rules and reference committee, but it has allowed for
proper discussion on the issue. Representative Huffman wants to make
sure that the concerns of Ohioans are addressed publicly and that the
hearing process is streamlined, as students head back to school.
Under House Bill 597, schools would likely remain using the Common Core
Standards for this school year. Starting for next school year and
the year after, the state of Ohio will begin using the Massachusetts
standards pre-Common Core. At that time under local control a
school district will be able to select the standards they feel are the
most appropriate for their district, but state testing will be based on
the Massachusetts standards pre-Common Core. As the bill currently
stands Ohio will adopt our own standards after that period.
I have discussed this issue with constituents and I find that many
agree with the expert testimony we have heard in committee. The
Massachusetts standards pre-Common Core were the best at that time and
they are a good temporary option moving forward. Based on my
discussions, I worked on an amendment that would ensure any standards
that are in Common Core and the temporary standards would be considered
for inclusion in Ohio’s new standards. This provides more
opportunity for more continuity as Ohio undergoes this
transition.
Common Core is a government program backed by the federal government.
Just like Medicaid, Social Security, and Obamacare it will fail.
We know this to be the case because the PARCC testing connected to the
Common Core was rolled out in a disaster last school year. In western
Ohio we have worked hard to ensure that our local schools are
successful in educating our children. Throwing that hard work out for a
sub-par government program is something that we must not let happen.
Please give me your opinion on this topic and others in the news this
month by completing an online survey at tinyurl.com/buchyseptember2014.
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