This bill won’t affect the new Idaho Core Standards — but it was clearly written with the new standards in mind.
The Senate Education Committee voted to introduce a bill that would require the Legislature to endorse — by law — any future multistate agreements on testing, standards or data collection.
The bill would only affect future multistate agreements, said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian.
Fulcher, a gubernatorial candidate, has criticized the new Idaho Core Standards in mathematics and English language arts — although he was also a member of the Senate Education Committee in 2011, when the committee approved a rule endorsing the standards. This was the extent of legislative review of Common Core in 2011; the rules passed the Legislature’s education committees, and rules do not require a vote on the Senate or House floor.
The bill was printed without objection, but Committee Chairman John Goedde said the bill may overstep constitutional guidelines on separation of powers. “That will certainly be discussed when this comes back,” said Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene.