Working groups aiming to review the state’s recently-adopted educational standards began their work Monday in a meeting mired in controversy over how much state education officials should be involved.
It was the first meeting following an effort in the Legislature that had aimed to strip the state of the Common Core academic standards proposed by the National Governors Association. Lawmakers opted on a stripped down approach which would not ban Common Core, but would have the standards reviewed and rewritten.
The Associated Press reported Monday that the first meeting opened with a rocky start amid concerns from committee members about whether officials from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should be present and whether the public could watch their work.
Legislative Republicans who have taken the lead on the issue — including Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, Senate Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, House Speaker Tim Jones, Sen. Ed Emery, and Rep. Kurt Bahr – penned a letter on Tuesday urging DESE to refrain from trying to influence the group’s inner-workings.
“Under the law, after DESE convened the initial meeting, the power shifts to the groups alone to guide themselves each month with the goal of delivering their best academic standards recommendations by Oct. 1, 2015,” they wrote. “There exists no authority in the statute for DESE to dictate the deliberations of these work groups, nor even to guide their deliberations after the initial organizing meetings held yesterday, unless invited to do so by individual work groups.”
Sarah Potter, a spokeswoman for DESE, said legislators were notified of the process the agency planned to take and that concerns were not raised at the time.
“The future of the meetings and the participation of facilitators is up to the work groups,” she said. “These groups are advisory groups that will bring recommendations to the State Board in 2015. The State Board of Education retains authority to set high academic standards for education in Missouri.”
Potter noted that the groups are not even fully complete because lawmakers have not yet appointed all the members.
The measure, signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon earlier this summer, requires the Missouri Board of Education to form eight work groups to develop academic standards for the subjects of English language arts, mathematics, science, and history and governments.
Each work group has 16 members, with eight selected by legislative leaders, five selected by educational groups and the state board, and one each selected by the governor, commissioner of education and lieutenant governor. At least four members of each work group are supposed to be parents. The standards would have to be in place by the 2016-17 academic year. The legislation would not disallow the panels from opting on the academic standards already in place.