Michigan SB826 and HB5444 would withdraw the state from Common Core standards, an important step toward nullifying nationalized education our state. SB826 must pass the Senate Education Committee while HB5444 must pass the House Education Committee. The bills were introduced in February; unfortunately, neither the House nor Senate have scheduled hearings.
In a strongly worded statement, U.S. Representative Mike Bishop (R- 8th Congressional District) urged Speaker Cotter and Senate Majority Leader (SML) Meekhoff to discharge and pass the bills – “yesterday.” Bishop wrote the following in a comment at Stop Common Core in Michigan Facebook page,
Congress’ recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaced No Child Left Behind, gives STATES jurisdiction over their own classrooms, not federal bureaucrats. Common Core is specifically mentioned in the ESSA, giving states that were force fed this ridiculous federal program, the immediate right to repeal it. This is one that the Speaker and SML might just want to discharge from committee and pass – yesterday.
Thank you Congressman Bishop!
The package of bills will repeal common core and replace them with the pre-Common Core Massachusetts standards. In a press release, Michigan Representative Gary Glenn, sponsor of HB 5444, joined Bishop and urged his colleagues in Lansing to “take action now, this year rather than allow more classes of students to graduate without the benefit of such proven best standards.”
The time to repeal and replace common core is NOW!
So what is on the April 12 Senate Education Agenda? Senator Pavlov has decided that listening to pro-Common Core reformer and lobbyist Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and repealing a group obsolete bills is more important. It’s laughable and very sad that Senator Pavlov finds either of those items more urgent than listening to parents and repealing common core.
The House Education Committee is not currently scheduled to meet.
Please continue to contact Senator Pavlov and Representative Price and tell them to hold hearings in their respective Education Committees on SB826 and HB5444.
Senator Pavlov is the chair of the Senate Education committee. Strongly, but respectfully urge him to move this important bill forward to a vote in his committee. A phone call has 10x the impact of an email. His phone number is: 517-373-7708.
Representative Amanda Price is the chair of the House Education Committee: Strongly, but respectfully urge her to move this important bill forward to a vote in her committee. Her phone number is 517-373-0838