MacIver News Service | January 24, 2014
[Milwaukee] Governor Scott Walker announced plans to create a Common Core oversight board at the Wisconsin Association of School Boards in Milwaukee on Friday.The decision comes following a series of public hearings by a special joint legislative committee last year on the controversial standards. Critics fear the national standards will lead to invasive government tracking of students and the federal standards will jeopardize local control over the classroom.
The Department of Public Instruction insists the Common Core Standards are an improvement for Wisconsin.
Governor Walker wants standards that are more state-based and more rigourus than the national standards.
Walker said in a press release Friday, “Federal standards in education may be raising the bar in some states, but in Wisconsin, we can do better. The education leaders here in our state are most qualified to assess the best way to take the standards we set for students to the next level.”
The Common Core Oversight Board will comprise of 13 members and will be chaired by State Superintendent Tony Evers. The board is expected to undertake a systematic review of the federal standards and classroom implementation.
Meanwhile, work from the legislative select committees has so far resulted in three assembly bills, which had a public hearing earlier this month. The Senate has not yet introduced a bill.
It is not yet known whether the governor’s proposal will replace or supplement the legislature’s work.