Oklahoma punished for dropping Common Core; all schools are failing

If anyone has an idea that the Obama Administration is not using Common Core Standards to set a common curriculum for the United States, the treatment of Oklahoma should put that thought to rest.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is revoking Oklahoma's No Child Left Behind waiver because the state legislature voted to get rid of Common Core Standards. Since No Child Left Behind requires that 100 percent of students be proficient in math and reading by 2014, an impossible task, that means that all Oklahoma school districts will be classified as failing.

Since some Oklahoma children have already started the school year, the Education Department will phase in some of the consequences of No Child Left Behind that Oklahoma had escaped under the waiver: The state must provide tutoring services and public school choice options no later than the 2015-16 school year. But schools that will need a total overhaul must begin that process this school year.

“It is outrageous that President [Barack] Obama and Washington bureaucrats are trying to dictate how Oklahoma schools spend education dollars,” Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said in a statement. “Because of overwhelming opposition from Oklahoma parents and voters to Common Core, Washington is now acting to punish us. This is one more example of an out-of-control presidency that places a politicized Washington agenda over the well-being of Oklahoma students.”

This marks the first time the Education Department has stripped a state of its waiver on the grounds of academic standards, said Anne Hyslop, a senior policy analyst for Bellwether Education Partners.

“This is obviously dicey water for the Secretary [Arne] Duncan, given growing opposition to Common Core,” she said.