A state House panel Tuesday kicked off a series of hearings about a set of nationwide school standards.
It will make a recommendation about whether the state should move forward with the Common Core State Standards.
As The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Jake Neher reports, the debate got heated at times.
Republican Representative Tom McMillin grilled state Department of Education officials about Common Core. He says the standards take away local control and were developed and adopted without public input.
“I was trying to get to that, and obviously there was not an interest in finding out the answer,” he says.
Committee Chair Tim Kelly says the school officials made it clear local districts would still have final say over whether they’ll implement the standards.
“You may not like the answer, but that doesn’t mean you keep repeating the question,” he says.
He says the panel should make its recommendation on Common Core in September.