Liz McCormick Published

House Education Introduces Changes to Common Core Repeal

Del. Paul Espinosa (R - Jefferson) and Del. Randy Smith (R - Preston)
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A bill to repeal Common Core based education standards and assessments in West Virginia is making its way through the House of Delegates, but has slowed in the chamber’s Education Committee.

Members of the committee spent three meetings last week discussing a bill that would require the state to repeal Common Core. After hours of testimony, committee chair Del. Paul Espinosa pulled the bill before putting it to a vote, explaining he wanted to give members more time to digest the information shared. This morning, the committee put the bill back on the agenda, but didn’t discuss it.

In December, members of the West Virginia Board of Education voted to repeal the Common Core based standards they had in place, replacing them with a new set, the West Virginia College and Career Ready Standards. Those standards were the result of an 8-month study led by state Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano, consulting West Virginia teachers and higher education official as well as members of the public.

But lawmakers have continued to voice concerns over the standards, saying they are too similar to the previous Common Core aligned set.

Education Chair Del. Paul Espinosa says his committee will consider a committee substitute, a new version of the bill that makes changes to the introduced version.

“Essentially what the committee substitute would do is codify the repeal that the board makes last year,” Espinosa said. “Also, it calls upon the board to work continue to work collaboratively with the legislature to address remaining concerns that there are with the standards. The proposed committee substitute also deals with the question of testing. That is one of the things there seems to be the widest agreement on, the current summative assessment is perhaps do not best fit the needs of West Virginia.”