Gov. Deal Issues Executive Order Regarding New Education Standards

May 15th, 2013

Hear the broadcast version of this story.

Gov. Nathan Deal Wednesday issued an executive order regarding Georgia’s adoption of a new set of education standards, called the Common Core. The order comes after some Republican lawmakers have publicly opposed the standards.

The governor’s order states that federal education standards won’t be imposed on Georgia. He also distinguished between standards and curriculum.

“Standards set the goals for what students should know and should be able to do by the time they complete a grade level,” the governor said, “Curriculum guides how a teacher teaches those standards. Curriculum has been and will remain a local decision.”

Georgia is one of 45 states that have voluntarily adopted the Common Core. The standards were developed by educators from various states with help from the National Governors’ Association.

State Sen. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) supports the Common Core and the governor’s order.

“He said, ‘Look, this isn’t a federal program; it’s not ObamaCore,’” Millar says, “This was adopted by the governors, mostly Republican governors. The problem is we have a Democratic president who made this part of Race to the Top, so all of the sudden people see federalization.”

State superintendent John Barge says the Common Core isn’t an enormous switch from Georgia’s previous education standards.

“Those standards were really highly rated,” Barge says, “They were so highly thought-of they were used to write the Common Core by. So, I don’t really see a lot of difference between the Common Core and the Georgia Performance Standards. ”

But other Republicans think Georgia should opt out of Common Core altogether. Virginia Galloway, with the Georgia chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group, says it could become a federal initiative.

“I think the biggest objection is we that we have this untested, untried situation here, another federal program that I think is doomed to failure,” Galloway says, “It will cost a boatload of money to implement and we don’t even know that it works.”

The Republican National Committee recently adopted a resolution opposing the Common Core, saying the standards are an “inappropriate overreach.” The standards are expected to be a topic of debate at the Georgia Republican Convention this weekend in Athens.

Click here to visit our Common Core Georgia FAQ page.