Interim Education Committee report makes no recommendations on Common Core Standards

The final report of the Interim Education Committee issued today will not please opponents of Common Core Standards.

Not only does the committee not take a stance one way or the other on Common Core, but it gives the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education a pass when it comes to how the standards are being implemented.

The section of the report on Common Core Standards reads as follows:

The most heated testimony heard by the committee concerned the Common Core state standards initiative. It was apparent that a disconnect has occurred in two areas- the first, between some districts and some of their patrons, and the second, between the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the average Missouri parent.

The Missouri Constitution gives oversight of education to the State Board of Education, not to the General Assembly, although the General Assembly is charged with funding education.

DESE has been open about their standards process, but this information has not always filtered out of the educational world to the general public.

In some instances, when it has, it has not been accurately portrayed. The committee remains concerned over the issue and it will be watchful to protect the openness of all processes related to it, especially the statutory protection of curriculum as a local decision.

The interim committee, which was chaired by Rep. Steve Cookson, R-Poplar Bluff, and included Rep. Charlie Davis, R-Webb City, and Rep. Bill Reiboldt, R-Joplin, from the Joplin area, held meetings across the state, including one at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.