Westchester County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino unveiled plans Tuesday to add a line to this November’s New York State ballots titled “Stop Common Core” which would allow people to vote for Astorino while expressing their desire to roll back the controversial education reforms.
At a press conference in Albany, Astorino said he would begin circulating petitions to get the third-party line on the ballot, which would bring his total lines to three—the others are the Republican and Conservative parties’ lines. He will need 15,000 signatures.
Astorino has voiced criticism of the Common Core program in the past, and has said his school-aged children would opt out of the exams last spring. Astorino also said he rejects the idea of a national curriculum, and has said he plans to put forward an alternative approach to education reform this fall.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, while more supportive of the reforms, has also spoken out against some aspects of the Common Core, particularly the use of students’ test results in teacher evaluations. His administration worked with the State Legislature to pass a bill that would protect teachers from receiving poor evaluations if their students didn’t test well on Common Core material.
If you’re still in the dark about what the Common Core means to your and your children, check out our guide for more information on the program.
