AG Abbott: Texas schools cannot use Common Core standards
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott confirmed Tuesday in a ruling that the state’s public school districts cannot adopt controversial national curriculum standards called common core.
State lawmakers passed a law prohibiting the use of the standards, but state Sen. Dan Patrick, the bill’s sponsor and chairman of the Senate Education Committee, asked Abbott for a ruling to eliminate any confusion over the meaning. Some had expressed concerns that the state’s own curriculum requirements (known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) overlap with the common core standards — adopted by nearly all states besides Texas, though some have since dropped their support or delayed the rollout.
“That concern is baseless,” wrote Abbott, the Republican gubernatorial nominee. “To use a simple example, if TEKS requires teaching that 2+2=4, the bill plainly does not prevent this instruction simply because Common Core also teaches that 2+2=4. The Legislature was aware of the frequent overlap between the TEKS and the Common Core Standards, as evidenced by the bill author’s explanation that it was not his intent ‘to prevent the use of materials where the two standards may overlap.’”
The common core standards, which had bipartisan support nationwide, have since spawned a revolt from some Republicans over concerns that the federal government has too much sway over local education policy.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/230107173/AG-ruling-on-common-core