Earlier this week, legislation with the aim of boosting K-5 math scores was passed by the Alabama House of Representatives and awaits Gov. Kay Ivey’s signature.
The bill, dubbed the Numeracy Act, was panned by critics who insisted it promoted elements of Common Core.
Among the critics were Eagle Forum of Alabama's Becky Gerritson and Alabama Republican gubernatorial hopeful Tim James, who said it contained "common core and other significant items of the left-wing agenda".
State Rep. Alan Baker (R-Brewton), the House sponsor of the bill, told Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5 on Thursday that those accusations were not true and that the bill went out of its way to prohibit the implementation of Common Core standards.
"Nothing could be further from the truth from that," Baker said. "It still has been mischaracterized in ways and such with various spins placed upon it. The actual bill, the 55-page bill, has one and one-half pages [that] does make mention of, references standards. But it does emphasize the state is to be divorced from Common Core standards.
"It emphatically states that in that last one and one-half pages of the very comprehensive bill. But beyond that, the bill does not set standards. It does not change standards. That is the authority of the state board of education. Regardless of what the standards might be -- what they are right now or what they might be going forward -- a year from now, two years from now, five years from now, the scope and plan, the comprehensive plan remains unchanged. Whatever standards are put in motion, that will be what the state continues to operate with in terms of the Numeracy Act."
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