It has been awhile since we gave an update on the pair of Anti-Common Core bills that are active in the Missouri Legislature. The first is the one in the Missouri Senate, SB 210, which passed out of their education committee last Thursday (3/27/13). It had to be amended prior to its passage since the bill’s sponsor, State Senator John Lamping, didn’t believe he had the votes otherwise.
This bill is now similar to what the Indiana Senate had passed. It shifts from being an outright prohibition of the Common Core to requiring their to be public hearings on the Common Core prior to its implementation. The summary of the bill reads:
This act requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to conduct at least one public hearing in each Missouri congressional district prior to the full implementation of the Common Core State Standards. The Department must notify school districts and parents of public school students of the hearings at least two weeks in advance.
At least two weeks prior to the first of the public hearings, the Department must perform a fiscal analysis of the projected cost to the state and school districts of the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. The Department must also prepare, at least two weeks prior to the first of the public hearings, a report identifying any data that will be collected as a result of the Common Core State Standards and any governmental or quasi-governmental entities or consortium that collects or receives any data. These reports must be published on the Department’s website and must be provided to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Joint Committee on Education.
All public hearings must be completed by December 31, 2013.
Not ideal, but better than the current scenario. It will force some accountability and transparency on DESE. The other bill was the House companion bill (prior to the Senate Bill being amended). HB 616 which is sponsored by State Representative Kurt Bahr and co-sponsored by the Missouri Speaker of the House, State Representative Timothy Jones, passed out of the House Downsizing Government Committee on 3/14/13. It is currently not on a House calendar.
We’ll give you any updates on these two bills, as well as, inform you of any roadblocks that may exist to their passage.
Photo Credit: Don J. Schulte at Oxherder Arts via Flickr (CC-By-NC-SA 2.0)