Arizona lawmakers reject challenge to Common Core

On a 19-10 vote, the Senate on Monday killed legislation that would have allowed schools to develop their own academic standards, which would not have to be linked to the Common Core standards that were adopted by the state Board of Education in 2010.

Monday’s vote comes less than a week after the House Education Committee voted to block the Board of Education from implementing the Common Core standards.

But the House position may not matter unless the Senate goes along, and this is the second year that the Senate has refused to scrap the standards.

The defeat came despite pleas from Sen. Kelli Ward, R-Lake Havasu City, who called SB 1458 the “keep it local bill.”

In essence, she wants to turn the current system on its head: Rather than the Education Board adopting standards for all districts, each could come up with its own, subject to board review. The board also would have to approve at least four nationally standardized tests that districts could adopt without further action.

“This is the bill that fights one-size-fits-all education,” she said, adding that districts which like Common Core would be free to keep it.

Despite Monday’s defeat, Ward gets another shot at the issue Tuesday, at least indirectly. She is pushing legislation to largely strip state schools chief Diane Douglas of much of her control over employees of the Board of Education.

SB 1038 would repeal language that now gives Douglas and all of her successors the right to “direct the work of all employees of the board,” clarifying that the state schools chief plays no role in hiring or firing the board’s executive director.

That had been the practice in the past. But Douglas said she was within her rights earlier this month when she fired not only Christine Thompson as the board’s executive director but also Sabrina Vazquez as her assistant.

Douglas backed down, at least temporarily, after Gov. Doug Ducey said she lacked the power. But the superintendent of public instruction insisted she was right and said she wants the law clarified or, failing that, threatened to sue.

Ward’s proposal provides that clarification. But even though both oppose Common Core, Ward’s legislation does not necessarily do that the way Douglas wants.

Ward said other changes are possible when the measure is debated Tuesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Greg Miller, who chairs the state board, is pleased with what he has seen so far.

“I think the proposed changes make it really very clear as to who’s responsible for what,” he said.

Sally Stewart, Douglas’ press aide, declined to discuss the specifics of what is now in the proposal. But Stewart said the language “is very close,” and Douglas “remains committed to working to resolve this matter, with minimal cost to Arizona taxpayers.”

The fight of who controls — and can hire and fire — board employees is central to the issue of whether the schools chief can effectively veto board decisions.

This is critical, because the board has not only approved the Common Core academic standards, but it has also directed its staff to implement a new set of tests linked to those standards. The board wants the AzMERIT — Arizona’s Measurement of Educational Readiness to Inform Teaching — to be ready to administer this spring.

Douglas, in explaining her decision to fire Thompson and Vazquez, essentially said they were thwarting her efforts, calling them “two liberal staff who have publicly stated they will block all efforts to repeal or change Common Core,” which Douglas has vowed to eliminate.