First Oklahoma, Now Wisconsin Saying NO to Common Core!

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker made a powerful statement against the Common Core Standards this week.

“Today, I call on the members of the state Legislature to pass a bill in early January to repeal Common Core and replace it with standards set by people in Wisconsin,” Walker said in a written statement.”

Wisconsin originally signed on to the Common Core in 2009 along with many other states, sight unseen.

The timing of the comment has been brought into question by some lawmakers, including the leading lawmaker in education. They are not currently in session and months has gone by since the public debate about the Common Core, earlier this year.

“The idea that they’d just be able to replace the standards at the beginning of the Legislative session is absurd,” said Steve Kestell, (R-Elkhart Lake) the chair of the Assembly’s Education Committee. “We’re in an election season. People desperate to be re-elected will say anything.”

Interestingly, Kestell and Walker are both Republicans.

Kestell is probably still smarting from the vote of no confidence he and fellow lawmaker, Senator Luther Olsen received in March of this year. It was passed on voice vote by a significant majority of Republican delegates attending the Wisconsin 6th District caucus. According to a press release, “Discussion was heated as delegates expressed their anger over virtually being ignored or worse put down by their own elected representatives.”

The dispute pitted Republicans like Kestell who, along with some school administrators across the state, support the Common Core against Republicans who were less than impressed with the standards and the process of adopting them.

Either way, Walker is joining with Missouri’s Governor, Democrat Jay Nixon, who signed legislation that will trigger a review and possible dropping of the standards and North Carolina’s Governor, Pat McCrory, who will sign a bill calling for the rewriting of the standards.

By the end of June Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina had all dropped the Common Core.

Walker’s spokeswoman explained that Walker wanted to make a definitive and clear statement after Cedarburg School Board voted Wednesday to urge the state to delay new state tests tied to the standards.

No matter the reasoning behind Walker’s statement there are many Common Core Warriors around the country rejoicing with the people of Wisconsin this week.

As long as Walker is sincere and sticks to his guns, another one bites the dust!