Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) joined a group of senators on Monday who called for senate appropriators to allow states to control their own education standards and curriculum and avoid federal interference.
“The federal government should not be using enticements, grants and waivers to influence state decisions on academic curriculum,” Roberts, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said. “Those decisions are best made by state and local governments without interference from Washington.”
Roberts and a group of senators sent a letter to Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Chairman Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) to add language to an appropriations bill that would prohibit federal interference.
“The decision about what students should be taught and when it should be taught has enormous consequences for our children,” the senators said. “Therefore, parents ought to have a straight line of accountability to those who are making such decisions. Those decisions should be made at the state or local level, free from any pressure from the U.S. Department of Education.”
The senators requested that the secretary of education be prohibited from requiring state or local agencies to develop or implement multi-state academic standards or criteria.
The senators also asked that the secretary of education be prohibited from awarding grants, contracts and cooperative agreements to a consortium of states that requires alignment of academic content standards, including the Common Core State Standards.