Common Core Repeal Bill Filed in Mississippi Senate

State Senator Angela Burks Hill (R-Picayune) filed SB 2736 which if passed would prohibit the Mississippi State Board of Education from implementing the Common Core State Standards.  It also would repeal the state’s SLDS system.

It has been referred to the Mississippi Senate Education Committee.

The 10th Amendment Center has a great call to action for it.  Here are the committee members below:

• Gray Tollison (R) Chair (601) 359-2395
• Nancy Adams Collins (R) Vice Chair (601)359-2395
• David Blount (D) (601)359-3232
• Terry C. Burton (R) (601)683-7050
• Videt Carmichael (R) (601)693-2750
• Steve Hale (D) (662)562-5948
• Angela Burks Hill (R) (601)798-3195
• W. Briggs Hopson III (R) (601)359-3237
• Russell Jolly (D) (662)456-3118
• David Jordan (D) (662)453-5361
• Chris Massey (R) (901)550-0334
• John A. Polk (R) (601)467-5117
• Tony Smith (R) (601)569-0691
• Brice Wiggins (R) (228)696-9545
• J. P. Wilemon, Jr. (D) (662)454-7585

Update: Sorry we posted on this late.  It looks as though this bill died in committee.

State Senator: Mississippi Can Do Better Than Common Core

I wrote last week about opposition to the Common Core starting to crop up in Mississippi.  Mississippi PEP, a conservative blog on Mississippi politics, posted a guest op/ed by State Senator Angela Hill (R-Picayune) who was mentioned last week.

Here’s an excerpt:

Last week, I and my fellow Senators in the Mississippi Senate Conservative Coalition found evidence of racially discriminatory policy in testing expectations arising from the adoption and implementation of Common Core State standards in Mississippi. These standards are currently being rolled out across the state by the Mississippi Department of Education.

As a group, the coalition has begun researching public policy and potential legislation that will come to the forefront in the 2014 session of the legislature. However, when the latest evidence of racial standards arose, we could not wait until January to talk about it. It was an important enough issue to Mississippi students and their parents to be shared immediately.

The more we in the Senate Conservative Coalition learn about Common Core Standards themselves and the testing, reporting, and accountability model that Mississippi will be bound to as reported in the No Child Left Behind Waiver document, the more we are troubled. Our research indicates that Common Core implementation will result in more overreach from the federal government, higher than expected costs, and potentially lower standards for all students. As legislators, those are all issues at which we must look closer. Two of Common Core’s own mathematics standards writers have publicly stated how weak Common Core’s college readiness math standards are. These concerns, in conjunction with the added racial bias the coalition has found, would do great harm to future generations of Mississippians.

Be sure to read the whole thing.

Common Core Opposition Cropping Up in Mississippi

WJTV Channel 12 in Mississippi reports that opposition to the Common Core State Standards is starting to crop up in Mississippi.

A group of state senators is questioning Mississippi’s implementation of the Common Core education standards, even as the state’s schools move to fully implement the standards this fall.

Republican Sen. Angela Hill of Picayune says Mississippi’s decision to set different testing goals for different racial subgroups undermines the state’s adoption of the standards, along with 44 other states. Hill wants to at least freeze Mississippi’s work on Common Core, if not reverse it.

Great news.  In the comments section please leave information about any grassroots groups that you know are fighting the Common Core in Mississippi.