CAN THE ZELDIN AMENDMENT END COMMON CORE?
An amendment was successfully added to the Student Success Act that could possibly bring an end to Common Core. This week, the US House narrowly passed the reauthorization of HR 5 (the Student Success Act). HR 5 is the controversial proposed replacement for the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The amendment, authored by conservative
, would allow a state to opt-out of Common Core “or other specific standards” without reprisals from the feds. It passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support in a 373-57 vote.The eponymous Zeldin Amendment is a two sentence piece of legislation that says a state can withdraw from Common Core or any other specific standards without penalty or punishment from a government agent. The intent is to remove the fear of losing federal funds and bring control of education decisions back to the state and local level.
The amendment reads:
SEC. 6532. STATE CONTROL OVER STANDARDS.(a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit a State from withdrawing from the Common Core State Standards or any other specific standards.(b) PROHIBITION.—No officer or employee of the Federal Government shall, directly or indirectly, through grants, contracts or other cooperative agreements, through waiver granted under section 6401 or through any other authority, take any action against a State that exercises its rights under subsection (a).
Can it end Common Core, though?
After the amendment passed, Zeldin told Breitbart Texas via email, “This is the single most important action Congress can take to make it crystal clear that states can withdraw from Common Core without fear of penalty from the federal government.”
As a New York state senator, Zeldin fought ferociously against Common Core. “The biggest complaint I received about why New York State couldn’t opt out of Common Core was because the state would lose federal funding,” he recently told Breitbart Texas in a phone conversation.
He blamed the “bureaucrats at the Department of Education in Washington threatening to financially penalize the state when I had introduced legislation that would have stopped Common Core in New York State.”
Zeldin said he introduced the amendment “to address the issue where states are not withdrawing from Common Core out of fear that they will be financially penalized from Can the Zeldin Amendment End Common Core?: