Four states reluctant to join national standards planning.

Four states reluctant to join national standards planning. FOUR STATES--ALASKA, TEXAS, South Carolina and Missouri--have sofar declined to participate in the Common Core State StandardsInitiative, the attempt to develop national standards spearheaded by theNational Governors Association and the Council of Chief State SchoolOfficers. South Carolina Superintendent of Education Jim Rex has signed on tothe initiative, but Gov. Mark Sanford has not. Sanford, who made newslast spring for refusing to apply for $700 million in federal stimulusmoney until forced to by the state Supreme Court (and more recently foradmitting to an extramarital affair), claims that because he has no rolein setting the state's curriculum, there is no reason for him tosign on. In order to participate in the initiative, however, a statemust have the signature of both its chief education official and itsgovernor. In Alaska earlier this summer, then Gov. Sarah Palin and stateCommissioner of Education Larry LeDoux expressed concerns about theinitiative, although they did not close the door on participating. In astatement, Palin, who has since resigned as governor, said that Alaskawould "monitor but not yet actively participate" in theinitiative. In a piece in the Anchorage Daily News in June, LeDouxidentified several reasons for his opposition, including his belief thatbecause the standards in each participating state must be composed of atleast 85 percent of the national standards, the resulting 15 percentvariation in state standards will render state-by-state comparisonsmeaningless. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Opposition to the initiative from Texas Gov. Rick Perry and thestate's education commissioner, Robert Scott, stems primarily froma reluctance to alter the current state standards, which were recentlyrevised and which they believe to be rigorous and thorough. Scott toldthe San Antonio Express-News, "I will absolutely look at them andmake sure that Texas' standards are always higher."Spokespersons from the Texas Education Agency have said that the statecould have to spend up to $3 billion for new textbooks and assessmentsif it changed its standards in English and math. Missouri is likely to join the effort, as Gov. Jay Nixon recentlysigned on after months of reluctance and newly appointed Commissioner ofEducation Chris Nicastro is expected to do the same.