On Monday, state officials announced Georgia is withdrawing from a group that would have created standardized tests that aligned with the federal Common Core curriculum.

State School Superintendent John Barge and Gov.  Deal said that Georgia is withdrawing from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers to ensure that Georgia officials maintain control of the state’s academic standards and testing.

Barge and other education officials say keeping the state’s own general assessment will allow then to alter standards to more effectively serve students in the state. Cost also played a fact0r- the PARCC tests are estimated to cost $27M, nearly $2M over the state assessment budget.

Common Core has been a touchy issue, largely with Republican lawmakers, saying it’s a path to a federal takeover of state education systems.

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