Lawmakers Slip Indiana Common Core Measure Into Another Bill

Published April 4, 2013

A bill to halt Common Core in Indiana during public hearings and a cost analysis wasn’t getting past House Education Committee Chairman Bob Behning (R-Indianapolis). So Senate lawmakers, who passed the bill 38-11, have tacked the measure into another bill to get the House to consider it. 

Common Core lists what children should know in K-12 math and English. In 2010, 45 states signed it, and they are awaiting corresponding national tests. Lawmakers in a dozen states are reconsidering the initiative, charging concerns over cost, local control, data-mining students, and academic quality.

Behning said he is not opposed to public hearings on Common Core, but doesn’t think the state should stop implementing the sweeping changes in the meantime. 

According to Brandon Smith of Indiana Public Broadcasting Service

Senator Scott Schneider (R-Indianapolis), who authored the original Common Core bill [Senate Bill 193] … thinks the full House will back his plan.

“The majority of folks that I have talked to on both sides of the building, and on both sides of the aisle, for that matter, are in support of … a thorough review,…” Schneider says.

Nearly a thousand Indianans and businesses signed a letter to Gov. Mike Pence (R), asking him to support SB193. So far, he has not responded.

 

Image by Republican Conference.