Louisiana district drops out of Common Core Standards

We keep on hearing from local and state education officials that Common Core Standards do not dictate curriculum for schools- that's left up to local school boards.

The East Newton R-6 Board of Education did not buy into that and neither did the St. Tammany Schools in Louisiana.

St. Tammany dropped out of Common Core because of the curriculum issue, as well as Common Core being an unfunded mandate. After all, the tests have to be taken on computers and, in case you hadn't heard, those cost money.

St. Tammany's decision is reviewed in Mercedes Schneider's Edublog, including the text of its resolution against Common Core, which includes this passage:

WHEREAS, the members of the St. Tammany Parish School Board, duly elected by the citizens of the parish, believe that education is not the mandate of the Federal Government or any national board; and

WHEREAS, the St. Tammany Parish School Board believes that the Common Core State Standards were implemented too quickly, are not perfect standards, and may not reflect the norms of our community in all cases; and

WHEREAS, significant time, effort and expense is associated with the modification of St. Tammany’s Guaranteed Curriculum to comply with the Common Core requirements and its implementation; and

WHEREAS, major investments to equipment and upgrades to our infrastructure are required to comply with the requirements of PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers); and

WHEREAS, the cost of the actual assessments is significantly more expensive than the current assessment especially since it will cover all grade levels and this will be an ongoing expense that imposes an undue burden to our School System; and this is another unfunded mandate on the St. Tammany Parish Public School System; 

I would be surprised if there are not many more school districts that follow the path blazed by districts like East Newton and St. Tammany. This will be the major educational issue in the 2014 Missouri General Assembly.