Delay implementation of Common Core

Published 3:17 pm Friday, January 23, 2015

Hold on to your wallet: the Legislature is in session and the big debate is whether to raise taxes or to impose new ones.

— The state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision already demands that the Legislature fund basic education and that it be done this year. Estimates of this cost are about $40 million.

— Initiative 1351 is estimated to cost about $890 million for the 2016 school year, and its cost will rise from then on. Initiative 1351 was passed by the electorate and cannot be ignored.

— The costs of Common Core are unknown. According to a former U.S. assistant secretary of Education, “Common Core testing will turn out to be the money pit that consumed education.” The North Kitsap School District alone estimates that it will spend approximately $1 million in the next two years for Common Core State Standards for English and Language Arts.

Common Core should be delayed. Even the Gates Foundation (its primary funder) is having second thoughts about it. Last June, it called for a two-year delay in its implementation.

With all of the criticism of Common Core, and with all of the other demands on the public purse, it would be wise to delay Common Core as the Gates Foundation recommends.

Joan Gorner
Poulsbo