MBAE Opposes Common Core Ballot Question

Today, the Attorney General certified Initiative Petition 15-12, a ballot measure that seeks to repeal the state’s 2010 adoption of the Common Core State Standards.  This action would:

• repeal the state’s college and career ready education standards and return to the outdated standards that the state had already started to revise in 2008;
• replace the process of creating new standards by Massachusetts educators and that has worked so well for 20 years with one that is cumbersome and inefficient; and,
• require the state to release all test items every year making it necessary to spend millions of dollars annually to create new tests.

The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education believes that this question failed to meet the constitutional requirements to be placed on the November 2016 ballot and is very disappointed that the Attorney General did not agree.  We strongly believe this is an improper and legally dubious question to place on the ballot.

The quality of educational services provided to all children, and Massachusetts’ status as the leading state for student achievement, are at risk if the proposals in this ballot question were to become law.

This a reckless and irresponsible ballot measure that would turn back the clock on critical improvements that the majority of teachers and principals support.  It would cause mass confusion in our schools, undo the hard work of thousands of Massachusetts educators and put our children far behind their peers in other states. It would jeopardize the chance for equitable educational opportunities for children in low-income communities, all for the sake of a nationwide political crusade based on faulty data and ideological opposition to high standards for students in Massachusetts and across the United States.

Links to resources:
Ballot question
Attorney General’s summary
Attorney General’s summary of process