Dormant for now, expect Common Core to flare in next Scott Walker term
January approaches and so, presumably, does the first hot round of education action of the second term of Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
There will be many other rounds, especially by the time the state budget is completed in June. In solidly re-electing Walker on Tuesday, Wisconsin voters made clear which side is going to prevail on some big questions about the future of kindergarten through 12th grade education.
But start with January, when the new Legislature convenes with solid Republican majorities in both the Assembly and Senate.
On July 17, Walker issued a remarkable, one-sentence statement:
“Today, I call on the members of the state Legislature to pass a bill in early January to repeal Common Core and replace it with standards set by people in Wisconsin.”
Pretty much nationwide, the Common Core went quiet as an issue during the several months leading up to the election.
At the time of Walker’s statement, several states had acted to drop out of the nationwide effort to have consistent goals for what students should learn in reading, language arts and math at each grade level.
The objecting states set standards of their own, and the Common Core had become a hot-button issue for opposing President Barack Obama and liberal educators, even if sometimes facts got in the way. Oh, well.
