Senate Committee Proposes Extended Deadline for Common Core Repeal

Senators continue to move on a bill that would repeal Common Core standards in the state Tuesday by proposing amendments during an Education subcommittee meeting.

House Bill 2934 was approved over the weekend by the House of Delegates and called for a total repeal of the math and English standards by July 1, 2015.

During multiple meetings this week, state Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Martirano pleaded with lawmakers to extend the repeal deadline and Tuesday members of the subcommittee listened, extending the deadline for Common Core repeal until July 1, 2016.

“It’s a very, very heavy lift,” Martirano said after the meeting of the 2016 date. “I feel it’s a very ambitious schedule.”

Ambitious because Martirano said the bill will cost the state Department of Education an estimated $113 million for meetings of teachers to rewrite the standards, for new classroom materials and standardized test aligned to the new standards and professional development for teacher across the state who will need to be updated on the new requirements.

Delegate Jim Butler, a sponsor of the bill, said he believes members of the House can agree to the one year extension.

“We all want to be thoughtful about the whole process and realize that things take time,” he said after the subcommittee meeting.

“We’re going to finally be able work together and come up with some good standards for West Virginia.”

The subcommittee also added requirements to the bill that educators must look to pre-2010 California, 2006 Indiana and 2001 Massachusetts English standards as a model for the new West Virginia content standards. Educators must use those same standards with the addition of 2008 Washington state standards as a guide in math.

The bill still needs to be approved by the full Senate and House of Delegates before Governor Tomblin will be asked to sign off on a repeal.