In the wake of Georgia and Oklahoma’s announcements that they will not be adopting the new Common Core program, Georgia’s governor and superintendent explained why they turned it down. And it wasn’t for political reasons. National Journal reports:
Georgia and Oklahoma have decided not to adopt the standardized tests created through a consortium of states to match new curriculum standards. Instead, the two states will use their current tests, which are cheaper and easier to use, for the foreseeable future. In the end, they said, using the new test was more trouble than it was worth. … Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Superintendent John Barge said the cost of the new tests, as high as $27 million, was slightly more than the state’s entire K-12 testing budget.
It makes sense. It is unfeasible for a state to take on new standardized tests whose costs exceed the state’s entire testing budget. It interferes with where a state focuses their resources for education and potentially takes away the money allotted to cover individual students. Will more states turn down the standardized curriculum due to the high cost of implementation? We can only wait and see.