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PRESS RELEASE: Speaker John J. Diehl, Jr. Moves to Strip Funding for Smarter Balance Consortium Membership

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Following a court ruling that Missouri’s membership with a Common Core testing company is unconstitutional, House Speaker John J. Diehl, Jr. said the House would act to remove approximately $4.5 million in funding for the group from the budget.

“The House will act immediately to strip all funding SBAC funding from the budget with the goal of ending our membership with this group that is in clear violation of the federal and state constitutions,” said Diehl, R-Town and Country. “The people of Missouri have made it clear they have a distaste for Common Core and that they do not want to see their tax dollars wasted on these federally-produced standards.  Going forward, we will continue to focus our efforts on developing Missouri-based standards that will best serve the needs of our young people.”

A ruling made Tuesday by Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green said that Missouri’s partnership with the Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium is an “illegal interstate compact not authorized by the U.S. Congress”. Green also wrote that “the payment of membership fees to an unconstitutional entity would impose irreparable harm on the Plaintiff taxpayers, who have an interest in ensuring that all payments from the Missouri Treasury are made in accordance with the law.” Green had previously issued a temporary restraining order on November 25 preventing Missouri from paying membership fees to SBAC.

SBAC is one of two testing companies that were federally supported until September of last year, but the cost of membership is now shifting to states. Diehl said it is time to act to protect taxpayer dollars from being wasted on a testing system that has drawn the ire of many Missourians.