Fayette school board OKs buying Common Core math textbooks

Some elected officials, business leaders and many in academia argued that the nation’s students needed to be better prepared for college, the workplace and global competition. Having students in Georgia be able to meet the same standards as those in, say, Connecticut, Hawaii or Iowa would improve education in the United States, they argued.

Embracing that argument, the National Governor’s Association — which was co-chaired by Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue — worked with CCSSO, state departments of education and private, nonprofit education groups to produce a set of national standards.

Working groups of education and business experts, including some from Georgia, wrote the standards and shared them with officials from state education departments.

The process of having states agree to adhere to the standards varied from state to state. In July 2010, the state Board of Education voted to have Georgia adhere to the standards.

The Obama administration supports Common Core and has used its education funding grant process to encourage states to adhere to the new standards. No state is required to adhere to Common Core.

This past school year was the first during which Common Core standards were adhered to in English/language arts in kindergarten through grade 12. The standards were adhered to in science literacy, history and social studies in grades six through 12, and in math in kindergarten through ninth grade.

A national assessment, which would replace the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test given to some elementary and middle school students in Georgia, is expected to be offered during the 2014-2015 school year. That test, however, has not been developed, and officials in some states are concerned about its costs and effects on curriculum.

— Wayne Washington

During a meeting Monday evening in which the angst over arithmetic was akin to the night before an algebra exam, the Fayette County School Board voted 4-1 to buy Common Core math textbooks at a cost of $1.6 million.

The dynamic that played out in Fayette was similar to that which has roiled Cobb County. The Cobb board, under pressure from opponents of Common Core, including tea party activists, voted 4-3 in April not to purchase Common Core math texts. But last week, following an outcry over that decision, Cobb administrators proposed some alternatives, which they said they will possibly vote on on June 27.

At Monday’s meeting in Fayette, during the public speaking period, eight teachers implored the school board to buy the textbooks, and five citizens implored it not to embrace the Common Core standard and its texts, which are supported by the Obama administration.

Common Core refers to a set of national standards embraced by Georgia, 44 other states, the District of Columbia and a pair of U.S. territories. The standards, created by an independent non-profit, were not mandated by the U.S. Department of Education.

Supporters say the standards will improve education and ensure that all students in all states learn the same academic concepts in the same grades. Opponents say the books amount to a federal takeover of education that should be locally controlled.

One teacher told the board that the “growing opposition to the Common Core books seems to be based on a lack of understanding.” She told the board: “This is not about politics, this is about education.”

One opponent said buying the books would “open a Pandora’s box” to all kinds of federal regulations and intrusions on the local school board’s authority. “That role belongs to the state, not the federal government. Georgia can do a much better job.”

Just as the Cobb controversy was generated by an email campaign by those for and against, many of the crowd that gathered Monday night in Fayetteville were prompted by an email urging action.

“Cobb County School Board votes NO to Common Core Math Textbooks,” read one email from opponents. “And Fayette County will vote tonight to purchase New Common Core Math Textbooks? … ANYBODY HOME?”