CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
THE
CORE
Fellow Republicans like Tom
Luna, the elected schools chief of
Idaho, voiced their support at the
meeting, as did Illinois schools
chief Chris Koch. At one point, Eric
Smith, then the head of Florida’s
schools, asked CCSSO and NGA
to send around an agreement that
would allow states to opt into the
process of creating new standards.
Lucky for Smith, that document already existed. Minnich
and Linn passed around a “Memorandum of Agreement” they had
written hoping that governors and
HUFFINGTON
02.02.14
schools chiefs would sign on. The
memo committed states to participate in the process of developing common learning standards,
but specified that the standards
would remain voluntary.
The meeting itself was fairly
uncontroversial, Minnich said.
He heard “really very few arguments” against the Common
Core. In a body that represents
50 states and their varying internal politics, there is rarely broad
agreement about anything, but by
day’s end, 48 states had signed
on — all but Alaska and Texas.
A few months later, the project got a sudden boost from the
Thengovernor of
Arizona Janet
Napolitano
created
“Innovation
America,” an
effort that
ultimately
led to a task
force focused
on catching
U.S. students
up to their
international
peers.