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Florida governor announces executive order to eliminate Common Core in state schools

Posted at 11:08 AM, Jan 31, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-31 14:13:16-05

FLORIDA — Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday he is issuing an executive order to eliminate Common Core from Florida schools.

"One of the things we would constantly hear about on the campaign trail is frustration from parents with Common Core and the testing," DeSantis said at a news conference at Ida S. Baker High School in Cape Coral.

The governor said he wants to work with the Florida Department of Education, as well as speak with teachers and parents about their experiences with Common Core.

"Let's get this right," DeSantis said. "We want high quality, we want to demand excellence."

The governor said he wants to streamline standardized testing, make civics a priority in schools, and increase the rate of literacy.

Common Core is a set of academic standards in mathematics and arts/literacy that outline what students should know at the end of each grade. Some parents argued the guidelines were too rigid and required too much testing for students.

"When you complained about Common Core, I hear you. I told you I would do something about, and today we're acting to bring those promises into reality," DeSantis said.

On Wednesday, the Governor held a news conference at Tampa Bay Technical High School, where he announced a plan to improve Florida's workforce education program.