New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan vetoed a common-core repeal bill on May 8, citing support from the state’s business community for the standards and the need to improve the Granite State’s workforce.
It’s the first time a governor has vetoed a bill requiring a state to ditch the standards. Last month, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, vetoed a bill that would have required a review of the common core in that state. Bryant said he thought the Mississippi bill was ultimately toothless because it didn’t contain a firm commitment to dropping the common core.
Districts in New Hampshire already have the option to use standards other than the common core, which the state school board adopted in 2010. (Districts in Wisconsin have this option as well.) Hassan noted this local option for districts in her veto message regarding Senate Bill 101—I wrote about efforts by the Manchester district in New Hampshire to craft its own standards last year.
“Legislation like Senate Bill 101 undermines the importance of high standards in education and the work that New Hampshire’s Department of Education and Board of Education do every day to ensure that our students are college-ready and prepared to enter the workforce. It undermines similar locally led efforts as well,” Hassan said in her message.
The Manchester Union-Leader reports that it’s highly doubtful that supporters of the repeal bill in the state legislature will be able to muster enough votes to override Hassan’s veto.