The adoption of the Common Core national education standards by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2010 represents a clear example of state governance out of control. The Common Core example is a clear and present danger to our representative constitutional form of government in our state and even in the nation.  Unfortunately  we see these roguish legislative and executive processes occurring more frequently at both the national and state level.

The Common Core State Standards for math and English Language Arts (ELA) were released June 2, 2010.  On May 26, 2010, a week before the release of the Common Core standards, the Oklahoma Legislature adopted an act mandating the use of Common Core standards for math and ELA in Oklahoma. Section 15 of the act states:

Recognizing the potential for dramatically improving student achievement in this state due to the opportunity available through the federal Race to the Top program, the Legislature finds that all of the provisions of this act are necessary to support Oklahoma’s application for the second round of federal Race to the Top funding [Emphasis mine].

From this statement it is quite clear that money is the reason Oklahoma adopted Common Core before the standards were even released; money is the reason Oklahoma adopted Common Core without even asking the question whether Common Core was any better than our existing standards; money is the reason Oklahoma adopted Common Core without considering whether we could simply improve our existing standards rather than throw the baby out with the bath water; money is the reason Oklahoma adopted Common Core before 99.9% of Oklahoma’s parents even knew of its existence; money is the reason Oklahoma adopted Common Core before we had a public debate (such as we are now having) about how to improve education in Oklahoma; money is the reason we adopted Common Core before determining the purpose of the Common Core standards versus what Oklahoma parents believe the purpose of education should be; and money is the reason we adopted Common Core without ever determining the underlying philosophy of Common Core.

What the Oklahoma Legislature bought was actually a federal Race to the Top lottery ticket, which like most lottery tickets, turned out to be worthless. Oklahoma was not awarded any Race to the Top funding. The legislature’s actions in 2010 were a failure of governance.

What the legislature has done is to eliminate any accountability for our state education standards.  Before 2010 parents and teachers could participate in the development of our state standards. If we disagreed with the state standards we could lobby the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction for changes to the standards.  If that did not work then we could elect a new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and if necessary, a new Governor (since the Governor appoints the members of the State Board of Education) and hopefully that would solve the problem. 

Now that the Oklahoma Legislature has mandated the adoption of Common Core  our levers of control as citizens are severely limited.  The national committee that prepared Common Core, and some new committee that will make changes to the Common Core in the future, is in no way accountable to the citizens of Oklahoma.  We can replace all the elected officials we want and the national committee could care less.

Parental control of education is, in my opinion, a natural right.  When the citizens of Oklahoma established the state constitution and delegated limited responsibility for state education, including responsibility for state standards, to the Oklahoma Legislature, while retaining responsibility for many other education decisions at the local level, the citizens never anticipated nor intended that the state legislature would transfer responsibility for Oklahoma education standards beyond the borders of Oklahoma.  The only moral way that the legislature could legitimately transfer accountability for state education standards beyond the borders of Oklahoma was by a vote of the people.

What happened in 2010 was a failure of state governance.  The sad state of affairs in Oklahoma today is that the Senate Education Committee will not even hear a bill which questions the Common Core mandate.  Liberal education – the education of our forefathers and the education of a free people – demands open debate of all sides of an issue.  The Senate Education Committee of all places in our state government ought to be liberal by nature, but instead it is operating in an illiberal mode by not allowing debate.

Some argue that what is done is done, and therefore we should just accept Common Core and move on.  That course of action is no better than the one the legislature took in 2010 – it fails to ask the critical questions about education and the underlying purpose of the authors of Common Core.  The proper course of action is to rescind the Common Core mandate, return to Oklahoma’s 2010 PASS standards, have an open debate within the state regarding the end of education and how best to achieve it, and then move forward with agreed changes to our own state developed education standards.