Education Standards Meetings Set to Start Next Week
Friday, October 11, 2013
By: Lynn Hatter

October 11th, 2013 | WFSU- The Florida Department of Education is set to hold a series of public meetings on Florida's education standards next week. But one group is already raising the alarm.

[Photo: Karen Effrem, Founder of the Florida Stop Common Core Coalition]

Karen Effrem, founder of the Florida Stop Common Core Coalition says she feels the outcome of the meetings has already been pre-determined.

“If they’re just going to make superficial changes to the standards, and pretend to listen to the public and then go to the 15 percent of Florida’s own standards they declined to do when they adopted them in 2010, they won’t have adopted anything," says Effrem.

Effrem’s group and other critics want Florida to fully withdraw from Common Core standards, which are now in effect for all public school students.

D.O.E officials say they plan to use input gathered at the hearings to, in their words, “tweak” Florida’s standards, but they note a full withdrawal from Common Core is unlikely. 

The hearings are set for Tuesday through Thursday in Tampa, Davie and Tallahassee.