CEOs tout benefits of Common Core State Standards

TAMPA— For Exxon Mobil, a new set of academic standards spreading across schools in Florida and nationwide offers the chance for U.S. students to compete more effectively against those from across the globe for jobs with the world’s largest oil refiner.

CEO Rex Tillerson jumped into the debate over Common Core State Standards when he expressed support for them earlier this month during the National Summit on Education Reform, organized by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

“If I’m looking for talent, why wouldn’t I go to states that are using the Common Core State Standards, where I know what the performance of that education system is’” Tillerson said during a discussion there. “Not only do I know its performance relative to other states, but I also know its performance relative to international work forces.”

The effectiveness of the new standards — rigorous math and English goals for kindergarten through 12th grade — remain to be seen; they’re just now rolling out in the 46 states that have adopted them.

How soon and how broadly the new standards take hold in Florida is now up in the air, though, as opponents get the ear of Florida’s political leaders: Gov. Rick Scott ordered a series of three recent hearings on the standards statewide and a Vero Beach lawmaker hopes to require 27 more hearings before Florida moves forward with them.

The lawmaker, Republican state Rep. Debbie Mayfield, has filed House Bill 25 to require that the state Board of Education hold at least one public hearing in each of the state’s congressional districts. The bill also would require a cost analysis and would prevent teaching the standards in subjects other than English or math.

Mayfield said she filed the bill after hearing concerns about the standards from parents and teachers.

“After talking to them, I thought, ‘We really need to slow this down,’ ” she said.

Mayfield called CEO Tillerson’s stance on Common Core and hiring “absurd.”

“If any of those kids go to Virginia Tech or MIT, you would not hire them just because they went to high school in a state that did not adopt the Common Core State Standards” she said. “That makes no sense to me.”

Still, some Florida business interests share Tillerson’s view.

“I think if some states do this and some don’t, the big winners are going to be the kids fortunate enoughto live in the states … who adopted higher standards,” said Florida Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mark Wilson.

There are about 250,000 open jobs in Florida right now, Wilson said — about 30,000 of them high-paying positions in science, technology, engineering and math.

“We have a skills gap in our country right now,” he said.

Exxon Mobil is the nation’s second most profitable corporation, behind Apple, but some 60 percent of its employees are from countries outside the United States.