Republican lawmakers appear to be backing off of plans to repeal Common Core educational standards this coming session.
In Wisconsin it’s local public school boards that have the legal authority to adopt the educational standards of their choosing. That local control law makes it difficult for any Republican legislators who want to dismantle Common Core to do so, especially since Wisconsin’s public school districts have already implemented and largely support Common Core.
Sen. Paul Farrow, the chairman of a newly created Education Reform Committee, acknowledged repeal would be difficult.
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“I don’t think it’s an impossibility — I think it’s an improbability,” said Farrow. “It would be effectively changing 424 districts.”
If legislators were to successfully repeal Common Core, they would also need to create new standards to replace it.
Gov. Scott Walker himself has backed down on his calls for repeal, saying he now wants to leave it up to local districts to decide.
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