(AREA) — The state Senate Education Committee on Tuesday heard testimony on Senate Bill 826, a measure to repeal the Common Core State Standards in Michigan. Committee Chairman, State Senator Phil Pavlov of St. Clair Township, spoke after the hearing and stated, “It’s absolutely wrong the way Common Core was imposed on the states,” adding that states and local school districts – not the federal government – should be in charge of education policy. According to Pavlov, Senate Bill 826 would repeal the state’s current, failed Common Core standards and replace them with the Massachusetts pre-Common Core standards. It would also direct state officials to align state testing with the new standards and require them to honor parents’ right to opt out their child from the state test. Pavlov says the Massachusetts Standards use education practices familiar to parents, are internationally benchmarked and competitive, are developmentally appropriate, and are not politically biased. The bill must still go to the Senate and House floor for consideration.
