Wisconsin to Prioritize Common Core Repeal

As Ohio moves closer to repealing Common Core education standards, Wisconsin looks like it could be next in line. The State Senate Majority Leader, Scott Fitzgerald, has said that tackling Common Core is definitely on the agenda for next year’s legislative session. Fitzgerald has yet to offer any specific proposals, but it’s safe to assume that the changes will be more in line with the school choice platform that Governor Scott Walker ran on to win reelection.

Earlier this year, Walker stated definitively that he wanted to see the federal standards repealed and replaced with something crafted at the state or local level.

“Today, I call on the members of the state legislature to pass a bill in early January to repeal Common Core and replace it with standards set by people in Wisconsin,” he said in July.

More recently, Walker reaffirmed his position on education, during a visit to Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. "One of the things I mentioned throughout the campaign that I wanted to do early on is an overall education reform package,” he said. “I think that’s something we can work on, whether it’s a special session or not, it would be early in the next session. Having high standards, but standards that are set by people here in … Wisconsin, not by people outside of the state would be a key part of that."

Back in February, several Senators introduced a bill that would have repealed Common Core in Wisconsin, but failed to pass. In the aftermath of the midterm elections,, however, as Republicans slightly expanded their majority in the state legislature, and as Common Core becomes increasingly unpopular across the country, repeal may well prove easier early in the next Congress.

So far, six states have withdrawn from Common Core, making new efforts to repeal the standards seem less radical than they did this time last year. For the sake of education freedom, let’s hope the momentum continues into 2015.