Dive Brief:

• The Arkansas Board of Education rejected (7-1) a request from Gov. Asa Hutchinson and his panel of education advisers to consider Common Core testing options other than PARCC.
• Prior to the vote, Hutchinson announced that the state would be trading out the PARCC exams for an ACT-produced exam next year, so the decision came as a major disappointment to the governor.
• The state's current contract with PARCC expires at the end of the month, and Hutchinson plans to meet with the board and State Education Commissioner Johnny Key before then to determine how to proceed. Hutchinson's panel, the Governor's Council on Common Core Review is still meeting to make a recommendation on whether or not the state should continue with the standards in general. 

Dive Insight:

State board leaders, in voting on the suggestion to switch to the ACT-produced test, took issue with what they saw as a rushed process. According to the Associated Press, various board members complained that the council and the governor were not listening to teachers, who wanted to keep PARCC, which ultimately led them to vote against the plan. 

But of course, painting the issue as a "teacher" or "legislator" thing just isn't possible, either. These debates are always nuanced. Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, who is leading the council, said he was surprised by the board's decision, as well as its comments that the suggestion went against what teachers want. "I had a group of about five or six teachers stop me and tell me today as I was picking up my 5-year-old son at one of the best Little Rock Public schools, that we need to get rid of PARCC," he told the AP.