Heartland Institute Education Experts
React to Common Core Vote in Indiana Senate
The Indiana Senate on Thursday passed Senate Bill 193, a measure providing for public hearings around the state to reconsider adoption of Common Core education standards. The vote was 38–11, with all Republicans and three Democrats voting for the bill. It now moves to the Indiana House.
The following statements from education experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Director of Communications Jim Lakely at [email protected] and 312/377-4000 or (cell) 312/731-9364.
For more information on the Common Core standards, visit Heartland’s public policy document database, PolicyBot.
“The bill’s passage by such a strong margin, and with bipartisan support, indicates that a wide swath of Senators believe what they heard from a flood of constituents: The very people the Common Core impacts were not consulted by those who decided to quietly impose it on Indiana and 44 other states. Not only this, the people have no real idea what transforming the state’s entire education system to national tests and curriculum requirements will cost or ultimately mean for local control.
“The state Board of Education should take note of these events, and so should House Education Committee Chair Bob Behning. At the very least, let the people’s voice be heard. Is that too much to ask from a representative government?
Joy Pullmann
Research Fellow, The Heartland Institute
Managing Editor, School Reform News
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“The Common Core curriculum idea is based upon a fatal flaw in reasoning. That reasoning is that over 50 million children in one of the most diverse nations in the world can learn the same thing in the same manner, despite vast differences in background and opportunity. This one-size-fits-all mentality has destroyed American education for all but the richest children.
“We need to replace ‘common core’ with an ‘individual core curriculum,’ where money follows children, not district bureaucracies, to a vast new array of education providers. Citizens, not the federal government, should control their children’s educations.”
Bruno Behrend
Senior Fellow, Education Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
The Heartland Institute is a 29-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site or call 312/377-4000.
Joy Pullmann is a research fellow on education policy for The Heartland Institute and managing editor of The Federalist, a web magazine on politics, policy, and culture.
Bruno Behrend, J.D., is a senior fellow for education policy at The Heartland Institute.
