#lohudreacts: Common Core on the ballot

School's out for summer in the region, but Common Core remains a sizzling topic.

New York's adoption of Common Core, a set of standards adopted in more than 40 states, has proceeded like an elaborate game of "Mother May I." After the New York State Board of Regents vowed that it would stand firm on an accelerated phase-in for the new standards, the state started its rollback in February. First, the state put off a full Common Core aligned testing for high schoolers until 2022; then in April, the state pulled the plug on its controversial deal to store identifiable student data with inBloom, a nonprofit vendor (data collection and analysis has been a big part of federal Race To The Top funding, which is linked to Common Core); and in June, the state agreed to a two-year delay in using Common Core test results in most teacher evaluations.

Despite those changes, Common Core curriculum shifts are still under way. Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES educators are developing a new accelerated math program that would delay algebra, often taken in 8th grade by gifted math students, until 9th grade, to stress the fundamentals. But advanced high school math students could combine geometry, algebra II/trigonometry and pre-calculus into two years, rather than three. Meanwhile, the SAT and the ACT, tests that colleges use to judge eligibility, are adapting to Common Core Standards.

Such change to New York's Common Core trajectory, though, hasn't cooled off the critics. Nor has it tamped down the politics.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino, Westchester's county executive, has launched a Stop Common Core ballot line, aimed at gathering votes among the disgruntled parents. In April, he announced his kids would opt out of Common Core-aligned grade 3-8 state standardized tests, even though they participated in the Common Core tests the previous year with nary a peep. "Our children aren't guinea pigs, Gov. Cuomo, and we want them educated by teachers – not faceless bureaucrats in Washington," he said in his announcement, via Astorino TV.

The protests against Common Core come from conservative circles as well as liberal-leaning bastions of union support. In fact, Fordham Law Professor Zephyr Teachout, who is challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a Democratic primary, and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, blast Common Core.

The new Common Core ballot line, loaded with Republicans, cleverly focuses on a hot-button topic to attract one-issue voters. (Not to be outdone, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has established a Women's Equality Party, capitalizes on frustration over the stalled 10-point Women's Equality Act, which includes a controversial bill to update and codify New York's abortion laws.)

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