Alabama Senate committee advances bill to repeal Common Core

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April 15, 2015

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Senate Education and Youth Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to send a bill repealing the embattled Common Core Standards, known as the College and Career-Ready Standards in Alabama, to the full Senate.

The battle over Common Core has pitted conservative groups against each other, with many business organizations, including the Business Council of Alabama (BCA), disagreeing with TEA Party groups over the necessity of the standards.

“This issue was politically litigated during the 2014 election cycle and the verdict came back to leave our standards alone,” said BCA President and CEO Billy Canary. “The standards are benchmarks of proficiency in mathematics and English language arts that will better prepare Alabama students for success after graduation. When it comes to education, the BCA has a long history of supporting policies that put students first and will prepare them to enter college or the workforce. That’s why Alabama’s College and Career-Ready Standards are of paramount importance.”

This is the third year there has been an effort to repeal the standards since they were first instituted by the State Board of Education in 2011.

“We are thankful that SB101 passed out of the Senate Education Committee,” Ann Eubank of the Birmingham-based Rainy Day Patriots told Yellowhammer Wednesday. “However, we are aware that this is only the first step in a complicated process.”

It now moves to the Senate Rules Committee, where it will need 9 votes to be placed on the calendar for consideration by the whole Senate body. Eubank called the additional layer to get to a vote an “additional burden on the bill sponsors in hopes that it is a mountain we can’t climb.”

This year the state’s GOP Executive Committee approved a resolution calling for the repeal of the standards, but as Eubank mentioned, Senate leadership has been hesitant to join states who have dropped the standards.

“I’m not hearing a groundswell of support, from my caucus, for this to be on the calendar,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh (R-Anniston).

“We have been fighting this battle for 3 years now and we are certainly not giving up now,” said Eubank. “We are not going away.”

The bill will only be voted on by the full Senate if it is placed on the calendar by the Rules Committee, of which the repeal bill’s sponsor Rusty Glover (R-Semmes) is a member.