This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Common Core State Standards, a new way to teach reading, writing and math, seems eminently sensible.

Unless, of course, you consider it to be creeping socialism, a pig in a poke or an attempt to wrest control over what Utah public school students learn away from, well, Utah.

The Common Core curriculum is designed to develop better ways of teaching kids language and math in a cohesive system that spans kindergarten to high school graduation.

That approach, adopted by 40 states (including Utah), is designed to better prepare kids for college and the workplace in a world that's becoming ever more complicated and technologically advanced.

Along the way, it could result in a more rational system of assessing how well students are learning what they need to know. The developers envision a system of evaluation in those areas only, rather than a hodgepodge of state-centered assessments.

And that, evidently, doesn't sit will with some Republican state senators. On Tuesday, they emerged from a closed Senate Majority Caucus with the idea of asking the State Board of Education to reconsider its 2010 decision to go along with Common Core.

Sen. Chris Buttars groused that joining a national effort would shanghai Utah's own moral and ethical standards. He added, ominously, the Common Core standards contain "code words for socialism."

Senate Majority Whip Wayne Niederhauser added that the majority caucus wants to maintain Utah standards on what is taught, "not what people from other states want to teach."

But as I see it, it's not so much what's taught, but how it's taught.

If teachers can show kids how to read and write with understanding and clarity, they'll be much better off in college, technical schools or the workplace. Same with math, in school or on the job.

There also seems to be some suspicion that the federal government had a hand in creating the standards. That's anathema to many Utahns who want the feds out of practically everything that goes on around here.

Actually, it was the National Association of Governors and the Council of Chief State School Officers who led the initiative.

It also should be said that under the Utah Constitution, the State Board of Education has general control and supervision of Utah public schools and has always established education standards and curriculum.

Which evidently escapes Buttars, who said, "We've got a pig in a poke. We don't know what we've got a hold of, yet we've been committed to it."

Sure to come is some kind of proposed legislation that would bounce Utah out of the Common Core agreement in yet another display of states' rights.

But even if the Legislature goes along, there are some facts that can't be refuted: Utah spends the least money per pupil than any other state. In Education Week's latest assessment, Utah ranks 41st in the nation for performance and policy — down from 38th last year.

Classrooms are overflowing, teachers work long hours and spend their own money on materials. Art education is disappearing. Even P.E., considered a necessity for good student performance, has lost a lot of ground.

It will take more than Common Core to make a difference in Utah's public schools, and we all know who controls the money. We also know who votes for them.

Peg McEntee is a news columnist. Reach her at pegmcentee@sltrib.com.