Texas has pulled out of the Council of Chief State School Officers – State EdWatch reports
The state’s commissioner of education, Robert Scott, made the decision to pull out of the CCSSO, citing concerns about philosophical differences with the organization, as well as worries about membership costs, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency said.
The commissioner felt that "our values don’t align with each other" on education policy, said Suzanne Marchman, a spokeswoman for the agency. "We didn’t see a return on investment from participating in the organization."
As a result of its decision, Texas will be the only state in the country that is not a CCSSO member, officials with the organization confirmed. CCSSO said it will no longer receive $60,000 in annual dues from the organization.
Forty-five states, plus the District of Columbia, have adopted the common-standards, which are meant to provide a clear and consistent set of academic expectations for students around the country regardless of where they live. Currently, the expectations for what students should know by the time they reach certain grades vary greatly across states, as do the tests and textbooks used in the states.
This is refreshing to see, and to top it off there is news that Texas Governor Rick Perry, an outspoken critic of the national common core standards, has instructed Texas to no longer pay dues to the National Governors Association, a group which also has pushed to have national common core standards. This is mainly due to financial concerns, but I’m certain this decision would have been harder to make if their were similar values.
Another reason to like the State of Texas, and a definite positive for Governor Rick Perry should he decide to run for President.
HT: Scathing Purple Musings via Grumpy Educators
