Indiana Senator Looks to Overturn School Standards

A Republican state senator is trying to pull Indiana out of the Common Core State Standards national education initiative, and his bill goes before a legislative committee this week.

Indiana’s State Board of Education in 2010 approved joining the set of uniform math and reading benchmarks that was developed by a national group of state school officials and has been adopted by 45 states. The standards have since been endorsed by the Obama administration and attacked by critics as basically nationalizing public schools.

Republican Sen. Scott Schneider of Indianapolis says he wants to withdraw Indiana from the Common Core because he believes previous state benchmarks were better. A Senate education committee hearing on Schneider’s bill is set for Wednesday.

Common Core supporters argue it fixes shortcomings in Indiana’s previous benchmarks.