Kansas House bill would void academic standards

? A new proposal before the Kansas Legislature would nullify reading, math and science standards for public schools adopted previously by the State Board of Education.

The measure is sponsored by the House Education Committee and was introduced this week.

The bill also says that new standards would be drafted “solely” by the Kansas board with help from an advisory committee.

Conservative Republican legislators tried unsuccessfully last year to block the board from putting into effect the multistate Common Core standards for reading and math.

The board adopted the standards in 2010. Because the federal government has encouraged states to adopt them, critics see them as federal education standards, and costly to implement as well.

The bill also would nullify multistate, evolution-friendly science standards adopted by the Kansas board last year.