The House Education Committee passed Friday a bill voiding statewide academic standards for public schools known as Common Core and requiring the Kansas State Board of Education to present a new set to the Legislature before implementation in 2017.



The vote followed four years of debate in the Capitol about standards for English and math implemented in 2010 by the state school board. The guidelines, renewed on a seven-year cycle, identify what the state board expects children to learn in each grade.



Rep. Amanda Grosserode, R-Lenexa, said the intention of pushing ahead with a revised version of House Bill 2292 was to offer a simplified approach for bringing to a close Kansas� use of Common Core standards to influence instruction in fundamental subjects. In February, the same committee adopted a far more complex bill intended to derail Common Core.



�We want the current Common Core standards to end in 2017,� said Grosserode, a leading critic of the standards.



Rep. Nancy Lusk, R-Overland Park, expressed frustration with colleagues intent on producing the �ultimate throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bath-water legislation.�



Conflict over Common Core has reached into constitutional authority of the state Board of Education, forced consideration of the Legislature�s role in shaping standards and featured sharp critiques of President Barack Obama�s education agenda. Tension has remained high among advocates and opponents of legislative intervention on Common Core.



The standards were developed in a multi-state process spearheaded by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association.



A majority of the 10 elected members of the Kansas education board voted to join with about 40 other states to voluntarily implement Common Core standards. The Obama administration offered incentives to states willing to embrace the guidelines.



Individual school districts in Kansas make curriculum and textbook selections on their own, and local officials most often strive to align those decisions with the state standards.



The state school board is scheduled to complete rewriting English and math standards next year regardless of whether the House bill becomes state law. The rewriting process typically takes two years to complete.



As the House committee hearing concluded, Grosserode said she was �threatened� by a strident opponent of Common Core who sought a more aggressive legislative response to the standards. Grosserode said the individual promised to stir up voters in her House district before the August primary election.



The House committee has conducted no hearing on Common Core during the 2016 session to allow testimony on merits and criticism of repeal. Nine representatives are new to the committee since the last broad hearings were conducted on the topic, said Rep. Carolyn Bridges, D-Wichita.



�Have we heard this bill?� said Bridges, a Wichita teacher for four decades. �I don�t believe we�ve had a full-blown discussion.�



Rep. John Bradford, a Lansing Republican and critic of Common Core, said the state board�s reliance on Common Core meant children were forced to learn basic subjects in newfangled ways.



�I don�t need to go through all this hokey math,� Bradford said.



�I don�t see this hokey Common Core math,� said Rep. Jerrod Ousley, an Overland Park Democrat who views the bill as legislative over-reach. �We have an elected school board that is doing its job.�