Common Core Debate In The Mississippi Senate

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi could create a group to recommend new academic standards for its schools, under a bill the state Senate has passed.

But after more than an hour of debate Wednesday, senators rejected a plan to make the state unequivocally dump Common Core State Standards.

The effort to dump Common Core came from Republican Sen. Angela Hill of Picayune and others allied with tea party groups. Hill says Common Core creates mediocre expectations and hurts academic achievement.

The Senate Education Committee chairman, Republican Gray Tollison of Oxford, says if a new commission recommends standards that include some Common Core elements, the state Board of Education should be able to adopt those standards.

Mississippi has spent millions of dollars implementing Common Core, which seeks to teach students to think more analytically.