Florida Gov. Rick Scott, in an interview with the conservative Report Card blog, pronounced the controversial Common Core State Standards dead in the Sunshine State.
He has in the past been reluctant to take a stance on the standards, which he at one point supported.
“I like to be positive and say what I am for, not what I am against,” he told Report Card. “The Chamber of Commerce came out for Common Core, so rather than specifically renounce it, I preferred to say that The Florida State Standard is now 100% a Florida educational standard, but the fact is, Common Core is out.”
While Scott has said that Florida’s standards are its own, Common Core foes often have called him out on this one. They have accurately noted that the Florida Standards are actually the Common Core with the addition of 98 items, mostly related to cursive handwriting and calculus instruction. Supporters of the Common Core did not protest the revisions, saying they were minor and noting the State Board of Education removed nothing.
Scott offered a different version of events to Report Card. He said, “The Florida Standard is derived from the Next Generation Sunshine State Standard, which was derived from earlier versions of the Sunshine State Standards. These standards pre-dated Common Core and a truly Florida’s own standards.”
Except for this: The Florida Board of Education adopted the Common Core in 2010, replacing the Next Generation standards in English/language arts and math. When it rebranded everything as Florida Standards, it included the revised Common Core and the state standards in other subject areas.
Note: —Florida passed bill SB 864, which requires school districts to set up a process through which parents can contest the selection of certain textbooks and classroom materials. More information here: Scott Hits Common Core…
