Today, Education Week, the national newspaper of education news, published the article excerpted below, that describes communication to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallon outlining a potential serious conflict with the Oklahoma Constitution to be found in HB 3399, which currently sits on her desk awaiting approval or veto. The complete article is found here.
Previous postings on this site have identified other serious flaws in the bill. While there may be much sentiment against the Common Core State Standards, there can be no doubt that as a law, HB 3399 would have huge impact on Oklahoma public education. First and foremost, the current waiver from No Child Left Behind will likely be revoked by USDOE and all schools will be compared against the expectation of 100% proficiency for all students in all tested subjects as per NCLB. Second, being less than 100% proficient under NCLB will completely restructure how districts can use federal funds, especially Title I funding, and may also change how any one school is staffed and organized. Third, the very issue addressed in the article, that of language that gives the legislature the ability to edit individual standards, opens a pandoras box of mayhem in terms of setting standards and determining curriculum for all subjects. It is hard to imagine a worse outcome for schools should this bill become law.
Common-Core Repeal Bill Faces a Potential Constitutional Problem
Oklahoma will repeal its adoption of the Common Core State Standards and develop new English/language arts and math standards if Gov. Mary Fallin (R) signs a bill sent to her by the state legislature. Aside from the obvious political controversies swirling around that decision, Fallin has another to consider: a national organization’s contention that the legislation probably violates the Oklahoma Constitution.
The May 27 letter concerning Oklahoma House Bill 3399 is from a lawyer representing the National Association of State Boards of Education, an Arlington, Va.-based group. The Oklahoma-based law firm, Fellers Snider, doesn’t argue that the state legislature can’t pull the state out of the common core. Rather, attorney Robert McCampbell says the real problem is the part of the bill that empowers the state legislature to approve or disapprove of the new standards that are to be developed by the state board if the bill becomes law. He makes two main arguments to support his point.
• First, he says that the legislation improperly grants the legislature power that is reserved for the state board of education in the Oklahoma Constitution. Citing case law in the state, McCampbell says that by allowing legislators final say on the standards, the bill would improperly diminish the state board’s authority over the “supervision of instruction in the public schools,” as the constitution states.
• Second, he says that the bill violates the separation of powers by allowing the legislature to intrude on functions of the executive branch (the state school board is appointed by the governor, although the state school superintendent, Janet Barresi, is independently elected). McCampbell against cites legal precedent in Oklahoma that the legislature “cannot perform the duties of the executive department.”
Kristen Amundson, the executive director of NASBE, said in an interview that while legislatures have a great deal of power, when it comes to altering the constitution (which creates the state school board and its powers) through this kind of legislation, “You don’t get to do that.”
Read the letter to the Governor for yourself here.
Read another article in Ed Week, Okla. Governor Weighs Whether to Sign Bill to Repeal Common Core, here.