In the presentations that I have attended where the subject of Common Core arose, there have been conflicting opinions as to whether North Carolina would be required to refund to the federal government all the money received as incentives for the adoption and implementation of Common Core in our State, were we to abandon Common Core altogether.

In a new Common Core development reported by Alec Torres at the online National Review, Indiana’s Republican Governor Mike Pence has signed a bill withdrawing the State from the Common Core program.  An excerpt:

At first, the initiative seemed full of promise; it was little-known and seldom critiqued outside of education-policy circles.  In Indiana, the effort to implement the Common Core was spearheaded by Republican governor Mitch Daniels and his fellow Republican Tony Bennett, the superintendent of public instruction, with the support of Democrats and Republicans alike.  In August 2010, only two months after the final standards were made public, Daniels touted the Common Core as a simplification of the state standards that had previously been in place, and the state board of education voted unanimously to join.  Implementation began the next school year.  Only four states — Alaska, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia — refused to adhere to the new standards.

Even in the full article, HERE, no mention is made of Indiana having to pay back any funding, and I think such an expensive consequence would have been mentioned.  So, can we follow Indiana’s lead?  The NC General Assembly is studying the issue even now, and I hope their conclusion can be in the affirmative.

For some background on Common Core, check out THIS article from the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law.