Governor Snyder signed the School Omnibus Budget Bill on Tuesday. Included in the budget was a provision that appears to have blocked the implementation of Smarter Balanced for one year by extending the MEAP.
This is obviously a good thing in many ways. Thanks to your calls and the the hard work of lawmakers against the Common Core, we were able to cause enough of a stir and provoke a delay.
But what happens next is not clear. Last year at this same time we had a delay in Common Core funding but by fall HCR 11, a meaningless resolution, was gaveled through by voice vote in the Senate restarted implementation. There still remains the possibility that the “new” MEAP could contain content SBAC content. So with good reason, we remain skeptical and cautious.
At this time, we are still encouraging parents to opt-out of all assessments and to vote out any lawmakers who support the Common Core.
A new opt out form will be available later this summer for you to use in the 2014-15 school year.
An Election 2014: Roll Call on the Common Core is available and continually updated to find out where candidates stand on the issue of Common Core.
We will post a follow-up with more details on the assessments and possible outcomes as we research and talk to key lawmakers. Stay tuned.