State Lawmakers Considering Proposal To Guarantee Common Core Exit

January 29, 2014 | 4:32 PM

By Rachel Morello

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A panel of state lawmakers is considering a proposal that would bar Indiana from returning to the nationally-crafted academic standards known as the Common Core at the end of a year-long review.

This is the third year Sen. Scott Schneider, R-Indianapolis, has filed anti-Common Core legislation. Last year he got lawmakers to agree to a year-long review of the nationally-crafted standards Indiana adopted in 2010.

Now Schneider wants to make absolutely certain state education officials don’t return to the Common Core.

“They will listen to the message this body is sending, that we are writing our own standards, that we are voiding prior standards, which is Common Core,” says Schneider.

Indiana Chamber of Commerce Vice President Derek Redelman testified last year in favor of keeping the Common Core. But now he says he’s willing to wait for state education officials to wrap up their review and release drafts of new standards.

“We all have to wait and see what comes out of that process, but they’re following the procedures that have been followed in the past, which we think have produced good standards here and would like to see that continue,” says Redelman.

State Superintendent Glenda Ritz has said the panel reviewing Indiana’s expectations for students should be able to wrap up that work before the July 1 deadline.