Rep. Rick Womick (R-Rockvale) says teachers and parents in his district have asked him to fight the Common Core standards, now in place in math and language-arts classes.
A state lawmaker who’s been itching for a fight over the Common Core educational standards got one Tuesday. Rep. Rick Womick brought proposals to discontinue Tennessee’s use of the grade-level benchmarks and their companion test; both were killed in committee.
Objections to Common Core raised in hours of meetings ranged from dumbing down what’s taught in school to exposing students to potential data-mining. Womick raised another concern to do with the Common Core test, known as PARCC: “You’re going to see our scores—I don’t think you’re going to see us do very well.”
Ultimately Womick’s attempt to back out of Common Core failed 2-7 in the House Education Subcommittee, which also dispatched one to keep the state off PARCC with a vote of 3-6. Womick remarked to reporters earlier Tuesday the committee was stacked with backers of Common Core.
Last week a surprise amendment brought up on the House floor raised the possibility of delaying the PARCC test for two years. The Senate will have to act on that measure soon, but Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey has said he’ll oppose it.
The move also prompted Gov. Bill Haslam to launch a hasty charm offensive of sorts in support of Common Core.
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