A bill that would kill the Common Core standards and state tests related to them won approval from an Ohio House committee on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 and now faces a possible vote by the full House.
The House Rules and Reference Committee voted along party lines, with all Republicans voting to approve House Bill 597, without any new amendments or testimony. All Democrats on the committee voted against it.
Bill co-sponsor Rep. Andy Thompson, a Marietta Republican, said that concerns about the Common Core are rising across Ohio and came up several times in his re-election campaign that ended Tuesday.
“We’re going to get the truth out there,” Thompson said.
Rep. Tracy Maxwell Heard, a Columbus Democrat and House Minority Leader, said she is not sure what will happen to the bill from here. She said there is little support for it from Republican leaders in the Ohio Senate and she doubts there are enough votes for it in the House as a whole.
“I’m not seeing the votes there,” she said.
Thompson said he has been focused on re-election and having the bill pass committee, but will now start lobbying other House members to support the bill.He said that House Education Committee chairman Gerald Stebelton, a Common Core supporter, has been trying to “undercut” the bill.
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