Members of the state’s Common Core academic standards committee debated whether the standards push books that could be considered “pornographic” into schools and said a better review process for the standards is needed in a meeting Tuesday.
Rep. Jim Steineke, R-Kaukana, said information gathered from standardized tests should only be made available to the local school district and the state Department of Public Instruction.
The Common Core standards, along with standardized tests in place to measure the standards’ effectiveness, are designed to lay out what students should learn.
“There is a insatiable desire for the federal government and the private industries to collect that data,” Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, R-Fond du Lac, said. “It is naïve for us to think that such invasive collection will not one day be used against those it is intended to help.”
Thiesfeldt added protecting both students’ and families’ privacy is a priority for the committee.
Rep. Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh, said safeguards should be put in place to protect privacy.
Decisions on school curriculum should not be left up to people outside the school district, Rep. Dean Knudson, R-Hudson, said.
Rep. Tom Larson, R-Colfax, said Common Core standards take away local control and the reason for its implementation in so many states is due to the “carrot [the government] held out in front of them called money.”
He added the standards are “unconstitutional.”
Larson also said some of the books that are suggested reading under the standards are pornographic and do not belong in the educational system.
“My moral standards do not allow that,” he said. “There is no place for that in my life. I don’t not want my children, my grandchildren, to be exposed to that.”
Despite the criticism, Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Cross Plains, said she thinks Common Core could successfully continue with minimal change. Pope added there should be a review of Common Core every few years and after that time, Pope said she thinks everyone will be “pleasantly surprised.”
Steineke added he believes a review process of the standards is important.
Knudson, Pridemore and Pope each characterized the Common Core standards as the “bottom, not the ceiling.” Pope added these standards are simply the outline for what students should learn, not the curriculum.
The legislative staff is set to meet in the coming days to create a report on the meeting and lay out the recommendations suggested by the representatives. After this time, there will be another, currently undetermined, meeting time to review and vote on each individual recommendation. Thiesfeldt said he wants to have the recommendations wrapped up by Christmas.
