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Draper • Common Core, Gary Thompson said Wednesday, is "educational malpractice," forcing an "agenda-based police system" on schools.
The standards are developmentally inappropriate, the state school board candidate said, and have generated extreme anxiety and depression in Utah children.
"This is an ethical issue," Thompson said. "If I'm elected, I will ensure that any aspects of this philosophy are not put on our children to cause them harm."
Likewise, he said, the SAGE test — which measures student's mastery of grade-level standards — has contributed to a "flood" of depression and mood disorders.
And while neither the Common Core State Standards nor SAGE testing is directly responsible for Utah's high youth suicide rate, he said, there likely is some correlation.
"SAGE needs to go, yesterday," he said, "for every kid."
Thompson's opponent, Granite School District technology specialist Kathleen Riebe, said Common Core added a necessary level of consistency to grade-level expectations throughout the state.
Utah's standards are a living document, she said, overseen by state education leaders with input from teachers and parents.
"I am willing to change [standards] and work with any parent who would like to see something changed in the Utah Core," Riebe said.
The exchange over Common Core was the key point of disagreement during a debate Wednesday evening at Channing Hall. The event was the last in a series of state school board debates sponsored by the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools, Sutherland Institute, United Way of Salt Lake, Hinckley Institute of Politics and KSL.
Utah, along with most states, voluntarily adopted the Common Core standards in 2011. The standards made up the math and English portions of the Utah Core, which defines grade-level expectations in a dozen academic subjects.
The state school board has made several revisions to Utah's standards since 2011, and it recently signaled its intent to review and update math and English standards, which would further distance the state from Common Core.
But Thompson said those changes have been largely cosmetic, leaving in place the bulk of the national initiative to standardize math and English education among states.
He said he would terminate his campaign for the District 10 seat on the Utah Board of Education if Riebe could produce proof that state educators developed the math and English portions of the Utah Core.
"When you compare the Utah Core to the national Common Core standards," he said, "you will find, at the very least, a 90 percent similarity," Thompson said.
On testing, Riebe said she supports the ability of parents to opt their children out of SAGE and other assessments.
She said she opted her child out of the test during its first year because its initial implementation would provide only baseline statistics for the state.
She was concerned about the amount of student data collected through testing, she said, but she acknowledged that the state requires schools to be evaluated based on test scores.
"We are caught between two situations," Riebe said, "keeping our students' [data] private and understanding that we need to have accountability."
On school funding, Thompson criticized the state school board for what he perceived as improper financial practices that allow for lost or wasted funds.
Teachers need better pay, and schools require additional resources, he said, but the school board must prove itself to be a better steward of public funding before it can receive significant investments.
"What we are doing to these children," Thompson said, "is an abomination."
Riebe responded that she is proud of the work that she and other Utah educators do each day.
"I like my school," Riebe said. "I wouldn't consider it an abomination."
She said smaller class sizes and better entry-level pay are necessary to retain quality educators. And it is "unbelievable" that the school board would think a bachelor's degree holder without teaching training would be immediately effective in a classroom, she said, referring to the new Academic Pathway to Teaching program, or APT.
"We need mentoring programs," Riebe said, "but we also need to hire certified teachers."
Twitter: @bjaminwood