Common Core has been a controversial topic among Kansas citizens within the last three or four years. Now, a new bill that could do away with Common Core standards in Kansas has been introduced and rapidly pushed through the House of Representatives.

Substitute House Bill 2292 requires Kansas schools to develop new standards for reading, math, science and other subjects. The bill would replace Common Core standards that were created in 2010.

Common Core was adopted by Kansas several years ago and developed by the government to encompass basic needs for every Kansas student to know when they graduate high school.

“The Common Core standards were developed at the urging of the 50 governors of the different states, as well as the chief executive officers of the state boards of education in all the states approximately eight years ago and it took several years for these standards in Mathematics and English/Language arts to be developed,” Superintendent Robert Shannon said. “Then, if we were to have some new standards in the different states in their schools, there would need to be some assessments.”

If Kansas decides to do away with Common Core standards, it could take a couple of years to be set in place and impact the state financially.

“If it’s implemented immediately and we, the state of Kansas, have to develop new standards, that could take a couple of years for teacher representatives around the state to meet and discuss and to send new or different standards up through to state board of education and if the developing of new and different assessments is expected,” Shannon said. “That also takes money which at the state level has been in short supply lately. There would be effects on our school district.”

Despite controversy surrounding the standards, Shannon believes Common Core standards are not too complex for Kansas students.

“I want to take an extreme, because if saying that instruction that has anything to do with Common Core standards may not be done in our schools, I ask them ‘have you read them,’” Shannon said. “Because they speak to some very basic things whether it’s elementary or high school levels that you expect students to learn, to talk about, to think about and I’m not sure what’s left over to teach if we don’t ask teachers to teach topics related to them. Politics have gotten in the way of common sense teaching and learning.”