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Follow Wyoming Public Radio as we cover the Equality State and U.S. elections online and on-air.

Superintendent Candidates Spar Over Common Core

Candidates for State Superintendent of Public Instruction agree on several issues, but Democrat Mike Ceballos says his experience as a CEO of QWEST gives him the edge, while Republican Jillian Balow says her background as a classroom teacher makes her the best choice. 

One key difference is over the Common Core education standards which were adopted by Wyoming, but are now under fire. Ceballos says he’s a strong supporter of the standards, but charges that Balow has waffled.

On August 11th she talked to the Wyoming Tribune-eagle and said I've said from the beginning that I’ve got concerns about the common core and my opposition is clear. But on July 27th with the Wyoming Education Association she said I’m not in favor of repealing the common core.”

Balow says she did not like how common core was implemented, but she adds that removing it now would cause problems. 

“Repealing the common core during the legislative session would be top down mandate. We need to be sure that we are building from the bottom and assure that we have standards that are Wyoming standards and not the standards that come from the legislature.”

Ceballos believes that the first thing he will have to do as Superintendent is fight off legislative attempts to eliminate common core.

Bob Beck retired from Wyoming Public Media after serving as News Director of Wyoming Public Radio for 34 years. During his time as News Director WPR has won over 100 national, regional and state news awards.
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