Over the past several years, Governor Haslam has been one of the staunchest proponents of higher standards in Tennessee, specifically the Common Core State Standards. But that support seemed to falter this past Wednesday when the Tennessean reported that Governor Haslam was calling for a “full vetting” of the Common Core Standards during this legislative session.
From the Tennessean:
“The consensus is higher standards matter,” Haslam said after an Education Summit last week that he organized. “What there’s some disagreement about is our current standards: are they the right ones?”
On the surface, Gov. Haslam appears to be bending to pressure from extreme elements in his own party as well as an increasingly vocal and well-funded national campaign to labeling Common Core as a federal takeover of standards. If this is true, and the Common Core has just lost one of its most vocal proponents, then the standards may indeed be on the ropes in Tennessee.
I have a different theory. I think that this shift in rhetoric represents a savvy political move by a governor who still supports the standards, but realizes that a different approach is needed if we are to keep them. It’s a risky political move to save the Common Core in Tennessee and quiet the anti-Common Core crowd in the process.
Here’s my thought process. First, Gov. Haslam’s move indicates an acknowledgement that the Common Core detractor crowd will not just be a small minority of dissident Tennesseans this legislative session. Voters are now being fed misinformation by out of state spending from groups opposed to Common Core. And they’re not just spending money on misinformation, they’re now actively running candidates on anti-Common Core platforms. Exhibit A is Williamson County, which saw large sums of money spent by the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity to support anti-common core board candidates. The group spent over $500,000 to slander the Common Core this past spring, with the state director vowing that this was just the beginning. It’s only a matter of time until they move beyond school boards and to state-level elected officials.
The result is a small but vocal minority of voters are contacting their legislators and demanding action against what they now see incorrectly as an intrusion by the federal government to take over education here in Tennessee, supported by considerable out of state funds. These legislators are in turn speaking out in opposition to Common Core in an effort to keep their seats.
This reality resulted in the Governor’s Education Summit last week, where he did his best to sell the standards to state legislators and “hit the reset button” in this discussion. However, he continued to encounter push-back from various representatives from around the state. In the aftermath, Gov. Haslam realized that there’s no way that we’ll make it through the legislative session without a direct challenge to the standards, and that a different strategy is needed.
Instead of continuing to hammer the message that we must accept the core as our official standards and hoping legislators go along with it, I think he’s decided to adopt the strategy to let Common Core supporters and detractors have it out in the public forum and count on Common Core supporters to carry the day over the claims of the Common Core detractors.
Consider the governor’s own words in the Tennessean (my emphasis added in bold):
“We very much intend to have a full vetting of those standards — what they are and what they aren’t — and let people have a chance to talk very specifically about what they like and what they don’t like about those standards.”
By highlighting the need for people to articulate the “specifics” as to what they like and do not like about the standards, he places the onus on them to prove their statements and back them up with evidence. As the claims of Common Core detractors often break down under scrutiny, I think that he’s banking on the fact that the more rational claims of Common Core supporters will carry the day.
This is also a savvy strategy because it gives the Governor an out should supporters fail to carry the day. If supporters indicate a strong showing, then he can step in and back them and continue to show support. But if the standards end up being modified or worse, repealed, he can claim that he was on the right side of history all along and led the charge to redefine standards in Tennessee.
Regardless of the reason for Gov. Haslam’s statement, he’s called out both supporters and detractors and now the ball is now in our court. It’s time for supporters of higher standards in Tennessee to stand up and be heard. It’s time for parents to talk about the changes they’ve seen in their children’s schooling and learning. It’s time for teachers who have taught the standards to talk to parents and students about common core and explain the standards to their colleagues. We can’t afford to sit idly by and watch as the wheels turn, because the future of our children and our state depends on our voices.
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