House Democrats: Advanced Placement history bill beyond repair

(Oklahoma City) House Democrats on Tuesday expressed their unified opposition to legislation that would conceal America’s blemishes and display only its beauty spots, and asserted that the measure ought to be killed.

House Bill 1380 would have instructed the state Department of Education to write new advanced-placement U.S. History standards. The Republican author of the measure contends that the A.P. U.S. History course developed by the College Board casts the United States in a bad light.

The author of the bill said state funds should not be used to teach the course – which students can take to receive college credit – because, he contends, it emphasizes “what is bad about America” and portrays the U.S. as “a nation of oppressors and exploiters.”

Therefore, he wants to replace the ready-made, nationally used AP curriculum with a homegrown substitute that would be developed by the state Department of Education – which already is tasked with developing new English and math standards by 2016 to replace Common Core, which the GOP-controlled Legislature scrapped last year.

HB 1380 was passed last week by the House Common on Common Education in a party-line vote; Republicans voted for it and Democrats voted against it.

After a public furor erupted among teachers, students and parents, the author of the bill told state Supt. Joy Hofmeister that he was “willing to go back to the drawing board” and revise the measure. Hofmeister said she told the author of HB 1380 that she would “partner with him” to iron out the wrinkles in his legislation.

“You can’t fix a bill as bad as that one is,” said Rep. Jerry McPeak, D-Warner, a retired school teacher/administrator. “It is time for Superintendent Hofmeister to stand up and show there is a real difference between her and her predecessor, Janet Barresi. This is such a sorry bill that it should be easy to take a stand.”

HB 1380 “would keep our school kids from learning our nation’s history, warts and all,” said Rep. Brian Renegar, D-McAlester. “The Republican leadership seems to think Oklahoma students are incapable of critical thinking.”

“The backers of that bill want to rewrite history,” said Rep. James Lockhart. “They seem to think that painting anything other than a rosy picture of U.S. history is unpatriotic.” Further, “If the advanced-placement course is not accepted by colleges and universities, Oklahoma students will have to pay for a course they otherwise could have taken for free,” the Heavener Democrat said.

Rep. Ed Cannaday, D-Porum, concurred. “Students can receive three hours of college credit by taking an AP U.S. History course, and last year 1,170 Oklahoma students qualified for this credit,” said Cannaday, who taught the subject at Stigler High School. “I was shocked that anyone who had never taught this course would propose something like HB 1380. It was an embarrassment to this state and ‘went viral’ nationwide.”

“Clearly, Republicans do not understand that students enter AP U.S. History with an understanding of basic historical facts which don’t need to be reiterated as bullet points,” said Rep. Shane Stone, D-Oklahoma City. “Then again, let the GOP retain control of the Capitol for much longer and that may be the case.”

“To revise that bill would be to revive it,” said House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City. “It needs to be killed.”

 The Gayly - February 24, 2015 @ 12:10pm.