OK House Repeals Common Core Standards, Senate Won’t Hear Measure
House votes to repeal Common Core statutes after Senate bill doesn’t get heard
By BARBARA HOBEROCK
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma House and Senate went in different directions Wednesday on the Common Core standards that have become a divisive issue for Republicans facing upcoming elections.
While Common Core supporters were successful in talking the Senate out of changing the program, the House voted 78-12 late Wednesday to repeal the Common Core statutes and replace them with homegrown standards that would become effective in the 2016-2017 school year.
Gov. Mary Fallin, who has said she supports Common Core, met with senators on Wednesday, according to several sources. Her office declined to say whether or not she met with senators on the issue.
Lobbying on both sides of the issue was intense this week after Sen. Josh Brecheen, R-Coalgate, announced on Monday that he had made changes to a bill he wrote so that it would now scrap the standards. Normally, changes of such magnitude go through the committee process. Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Keith Ballard on Tuesday was at the Capitol to meet with lawmakers. Ballard said his district would continue to implement common core standards regardless.