Calling them a federal "dictate," Sen. Al Melvin convinced Republican colleagues in the Senate to vote today to scrap the Common Core standards that the state and schools adopted just four years earlier.
The legislation crafted by the Tucson Republican prohibits the state Board of Education from implementing the standards. It also requires the state to withdraw from the multi-state Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers which is developing assessments to see what students have learned.
Melvin, pressed for what in the standards he does not like, did not provide any examples.
"I leave it to you to find them," he told Sen. David Bradley, D-Tucson. Instead, Melvin said he was simply reflecting what he said is the will of a majority of Arizonans who say they do not want Common Core.
"We can do a better job at the state level than the federal government dictating standards," Melvin said.
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But Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, said Melvin is off-base in saying these standards are federal mandates. He said they were developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, "Republican and Democratic governors coming together to look at how we are going to advance our education system throughout our entire country."
And that includes current Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.
In the end, with what appears to be party-line GOP support to scrap the standards, it may fall to Brewer to save them.
Supporters of common core standards say they will better prepare students for the future. They say eliminating the program would cost the state millions in federal funding and would make the state less economically competitive.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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