Only days ago it appeared that Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardnendale, and Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, had reached an agreement to end the Alabama Senate’s showdown over Common Core State Standards.
Although the bill, SB443, was not the full repeal that many grassroots activists had pushed for, it would keep Common Core from expanding into new subjects and give local school boards the power to opt out all together. 12 senators co-sponsored the bill, including Beason and Marsh. The Business Council of Alabama and the state’s education establishment continued to fight it, but momentum seemed to be on the bill’s side.
However, all of that came to an abrupt halt today.
After helping SB443 pass out of the Senate Education Committee, Sen. Marsh and Sen. Dick Brewbaker said they had come to the realization that the bill did not have enough votes to pass out of the full senate.
“I don’t see any more votes for this modified bill than the first bill,” Marsh said. “I mean it’s the same situation, and I think Senator Beason sees that as well.”
“[T]he only way to move it is with a cloture vote, so unless we get 22 people to vote for cloture there’s just not a whole lot of point in bringing it forward,” added Brewbaker, who has long been one of the staunchest advocates for repeal.
So what went wrong?
When a Common Core compromise bill was first discussed, the idea was floated to actually bring two bills on the issue. One would create the moratorium on expanding Common Core to new subjects, essentially giving the state a couple of years to study the success or failure of the standards. The second bill would give local school boards the option to opt out of the standards all together. Initial feedback from Senate Republicans was that there was broad support for the moratorium concept, but the opt-out made some senators uneasy.
But rather than moving forward with two separate bills, Sen. Beason decided to combine the two bills into one and try to rally the support to pass it. In the end, wide-ranging support for the opt-out provision did not materialize.
Multiple senators declined to comment on the record about what kept the opt-out provision from gaining enough support to pass, but one did agree to speak candidly on condition of anonymity.
“There are plenty of members of various conservative groups who have gained a lot of respect during this fight,” the senator said by phone. “They’ve done their homework. They’ve been respectful. They’ve stated their case. So when they come up here with issues in the future, they’ll get a fair shake. On the other hand, there are a very small number of people who have embarrassed themselves and the rest of us up here. They played out every stereotype al.com and the Common Core proponents wanted them to. Conservatives are going to be mad at legislators over this, and I’m frustrated about it to. But the truth is that we’re having trouble winning this issue because of a small number of people on our side — conservatives, tea partiers — who can’t come to the State House without showing their butt. People don’t want to hear that, but it’s the truth.”
Ann Eubank of the Rainy Day Patriots Tea Party group, who the aforementioned senator complimented for being “one of the hardest working, most well-spoken conservatives working on this issue,” said that they are disappointed with the bill not passing, but will continue pushing forward.
“We did everything we could do to show that we’re not going away,” Eubank told Yellowhammer. “We knew it was a long shot, but we will not give up. So now we switch focus to electing school board members. We’re going to take every option available to us to defeat Common Core.”
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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