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use or study any particular books. All curriculum decisions remain with local schools and teachers.
•  There have been many bills introduced this legislative session because of concerns with Common Core - and I support some of those efforts. Senate Bill 63, for example, prohibits the state from sharing individual student data with the federal government. I agree that individual student data should remain confidential, and I hope we will all work together this year to protect our students.

• I hope you will read the standards for yourself before drawing conclusions on Common Core. You can find the standards at commoncore.sd.gov by clicking on "What are the standards."
• We need to have content standards. We need standards that are rigorous. We need our students to learn English and math, and we also need them to learn how to think independently and solve problems in real-world situations. These were the goals of those who wrote, evaluated and adopted the Common Core standards. I support those goals and believe the new standards will bring us closer to achieving them.