Arizona Senate Education Committee Passes Common Core Repeal

The Arizona Senate Education Committee passed a measure on Thursday, by a vote of 5-2, that would repeal the Common Core standards in that state.

The bill, HB2190, will now go before the full Senate and, if passed, on to Gov. Doug Ducey’s (R) office for his signature. At that point, Arizona schools will return to the standards they used in 2010, reports AZCentral.

The state Senate, however, has already killed two anti-Common Core bills during this legislative session, and it is expected this measure will be revised prior to reaching the Senate floor.

The legislation would prohibit the state’s Board of Education and Department of Education from adopting and implementing the Common Core standards and the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards, the latter of which is a “rebrand” of the Common Core, enacted by former Gov. Jan Brewer (R) to avoid hostility directed at the standards.

In addition, the bill would ban any standards from a third-party provider that are aligned with assessments proposed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), one of the federally funded consortia that are creating tests for the nationalized standards. Standards and assessments that are substantially similar to those used by 20 or more other states would also be prohibited.

The measure also bars any “appointed and elected officials from joining any consortium, association or other entity on behalf of the state or a state agency if membership would require the state to cede any measure of control over education, including academic content standards and assessments.”

Opponents of the bill said the state had already invested significant amounts of time and money into the Common Core rebranded standards, but state Sen. Steve Smith (R), a supporter of the bill, said that should not be an issue.

“Just because you change your mind on this issue doesn’t mean you’re wrong,” he said.

Republican state Sens. Kelli Ward, Sylvia Allen, Jeff Dial, and Kimberly Yee voted in favor of the bill, while Democrat Sens. David Bradley and Carlyle Begay voted against it.