Common Core Costs

If money talks then we had better listen!

(Some money points taken from the "National Cost of Aligning States and Localities to Common Core" Vol. No. 82, February 2012)

"Over a typical standards time horizon of seven (7) years, we project Common Core implementation costs will total approximately $15.8 billion across participating states."

These cost projections over seven years do not include:

• $1.2 billion for the new assessments
• $5.3 for professional development (i.e teacher training)
• $2.5 billion for textbooks and instructional material
• $6.9 billion for technology infrastructure and support

"We project that the annual cost of assessment for states participating in the consortia (PARCC and SBAC) will INCREASE by a total of $177.2 million PER YEAR."

Estimated professional development costs:

• California  $2,000 per teacher
• Washington $3,087 per teacher
• Texas $1,681 (Texas has rejected Common Core since the writing of these figures)

"We project that states adopting Common Core will need to spend approximately $2.47 billion in one time costs to obtain aligned English language arts and mathematics instructional materials."

"Implementing the SBAC consortium assessments aligned to the Common Core standards would increase California's state testing costs by approximately $10 per student annually, or $35 million each year.  Over seven years, the increase would total $245 million."

Where is all this money going to come from?  

Us, the taxpayers.  You can be sure your property taxes will increase along with the Common Core expenses.

"In light of these substantial costs, California would benefit from a broader and more vigorous public debate on the topic of adopting the Common Core standards.  At a time of extended financial hardship for many local schools, would time and money spent realigning to the Common Core standards constitute the most promising strategy for improving education and increasing student outcomes?"  {page 25 of National Cost of Aligning States and Localities to Common Core Standards}

Money talked and no one listened.