A major anti-Common Core push failed in the Legislature last year, but only one Common Core bill has been filed this year – LSR 485 from Rep. Rick Ladd (R, Haverhill).  According to Rep. Ladd, the bill will say,

“School districts are not required to participate in the common core standards. School districts not participating in the common core standards shall adopt educational standards in mathematics and English language arts that equal to or exceed state minimum standards in mathematics and English language arts for all grades of public schools as adopted by the State Board of Education pursuant to RSA 541-A.”

On its face, it looks like a local control bill.  But it may actually reduce school district control over the standard setting process.  Districts currently have no need to formally adopt any standards at all.  Rep. Ladd’s bill looks as if it would require districts to either adopt the Common Core standards or adopt alternative standards that the district can show meet the requirements detailed in the state minimum standards and all the included statutes.  That sounds expensive.

Here are some excerpts from a Concord Monitor story about the bill:

State Rep. Rick Ladd, a Republican from Haverhill and chairman of the House Education Committee, sponsored the bill.

“This one is just trying to clarify and establish and codify that it’s a local decision to participate or not,” [Ladd] said.

…[Rep. Mary Gile (D, Concord)] expressed some hesitation about the proposed legislation, saying she thinks it could cause some confusion and create pressure on districts from parents to withdraw from the standards already in place.

“It may reduce some of the effort that is going into the implementation of the Common Core State Standards,” she said.