Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes has completed an analysis of Utah’s involvement in what is known as the common core standards.
Governor Gary Herbert requested the report in order to get to the bottom of the debate over the common core.
“I want the truth and I can handle the truth," he says. "As I know the people of Utah can do so also and want and desire the truth.”
Herbert asked Attorney General Sean Reyes to examine five key issues, including whether or not the state of Utah is somehow entangled with the federal government by adopting the common care. Reyes says it depends on how you define entangled.
“If you define federal entanglements as, does the federal government have ultimate control over setting standards or curriculum for the state of Utah, in lieu of the state, then the answer is, no,” Reyes says.
Reyes says they also believe that the state’s adoption of the standards was not illegal as has been alleged. He says, ultimately, the State Board of Education has the authority to create and modify standards and that the federal government is not dictating curriculum choices.
Herbert says he hopes the report will help eliminate some of the fear surrounding the common core.
“There are people that think the federal government is controlling, not only our standards, but controlling our curriculum, and controlling what we purchase for text books and there are really some exaggerated notions out there that we find with the legal review are not true," he says. "So I hope people would say, ‘oh, gee, I’m so relieved. I’m glad to know that it’s really not true.’”
Herbert says this report is only the beginning of his review process and while he doesn’t see any obvious issues with what the state board of education has done, he expects further review could result in changes to Utah’s current standards.
