Exiting the Common Core Memorandum of Understanding
In October 2013, I wrote a post examining the details of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) memorandum of understanding (MOU), the agreement that state governors and state education superintendents signed with the US Department of Education (USDOE) in which “states” agreed to be “state led” in developing “common standards” according to the criteria set forth in this legal document composed as an appendix to accompany a state’s Race to the Top (RTTT) application in each state’s bid for RTTT money.
So much for “state led.”
The first-round RTTT applications and accompanying appendices for 40 states and DC can be found here. The CCSS MOU is three- to four-pages long and can be found approximately halfway through each appendix file.
What is important to note is that the CCSS MOU includes no provision for exiting CCSS.
It also includes no wording in which states are bound to CCSS if the original signators no longer hold the positions of governor and state education superintendent.
This second point is important to states wishing to be rid of CCSS. The point in USDOE’s requiring only two signators was to bypass the “messiness” of the legislative process and bind states to CCSS via only two signatures in “top-down” fashion.
Legislators can certainly continue to promote anti-CCSS legislation; however, there