Common Core has no shortage of critics. The national education standards have been pilloried by pundits, parents, comedians, teachers, and lawmakers alike. The chief concern, perhaps, is that Common Core introduces frivolous and illogical teaching techniques to no apparent purpose, while at the same time introduces new standards that aren't making meaningful improvements in student achievement. Common Core also implements a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to improving our public education system. These issues, critics argue, could be must better handled by local and state communities -- and by the teachers and parents who live in them.
As it happens, South Carolina currently adheres to Common Core. But on May 30, 2014, Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) signed a bill abolishing the standards altogether beginning in 2015. The Palmetto State thus joins Indiana (sort of) as the only other state in America to formally repeal them. Education Week reports:
Republican Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina has signed a bill that requires the state to adopt new content standards for the 2015-16 school year and drop the Common Core State Standards.
In effect, this means that South Carolina has become the second state to drop the common standards, although the actual replacement of common core with "new" standards won't take place until the 2015-16 year. The common core will remain in place in South Carolina for the 2014-15 school year. So the so-called repeal of the common core in the Palmetto State hasn't technically gone into effect yet.
Of course, opponents of Common Core see this as a huge victory:
“Governor Haley and the legislature have taken the first step toward pushing back against the federal government and special interests and putting South Carolinian citizens back in charge of their children’s education,” said Emmett McGroarty, Director of Education at the American Principles Project. “This is a great day for America’s constitutional heritage.”
There is some concern, however, that the new standards, once adopted, will too closely resemble Common Core. Hence why South Carolina state lawmakers are already taking steps to ensure that doesn’t happen.