The Common Core was created by a group of education experts from around the country, including Ohio. The state adopted the standards in 2010 and school districts implemented them starting this year.
During six hearings for a bill to repeal the Common Core, questions and concerns surrounding the creation of the standards have been brought up numerous times by opponents of the Common Core and subsequently defended by supporters.
Now Republican State Rep. Matt Huffman of Lima, who co-sponsors the bill and chairs the committee in which it’s being heard, said he wants to take a deeper look at the actual standards.
"The testimony I would like to hear is an analysis by someone who wrote these standards as to why, you know, ‘Here’s an example as to what we’re trying to do,’" he said. "And have someone who’s against the standards come in and say, ‘And here’s why that won’t work.’”
Common Core supporters who helped create the standards have appeared before the committee, including a professor of mathematics from the University of Arizona.
Huffman acknowledged that the panel has heard from experts but said it’s been in a “patchwork” sort of way.
The Ohio Standard Coalition is made up of teachers, administrators, school board members and business leaders. Lisa Gray, the coalition's director, said she could call on thousands of educators to take on that debate.
“We’ve looked at those standards very carefully, we’ve seen how those have been implemented," she said, "so if that is something that Rep. Huffman wants to do, we’re absolutely willing and prepared to do that.”
There’s no word yet on when the committee holding hearings on the bill will meet next. While it could be voted out of committee in the next few weeks, no votes are scheduled on the House floor till after the November election.
