S.C. Governor Signs Bill Requiring State to Replace Common Core
By Andrew Ujifusa
June 4, 2014
Republican Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina has signed a bill that requires the state to adopt new content standards for the 2015-16 school year and drop the Common Core State Standards.
In effect, this means that South Carolina has become the second state to drop the common standards, although the actual replacement of common core with “new” standards won’t take place until the 2015-16 year. The common core will remain in place in South Carolina for the 2014-15 school year. So the so-called repeal of the common core in the Palmetto State hasn’t technically gone into effect yet.
Haley, an outspoken opponent of the common core, signed the bill May 30.
Here’s a twist in the legislation: If the South Carolina Department of Education develops new standards, then the state school board and the Education Oversight Committee (a non-legislative but official government entity in the state) must sign off on them. That’s standard procedure right now. However, under the new law, any new standards not developed by the state education department also have to be approved by a joint resolution of the legislature.