ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino says he will pull his children from New York's Common Core tests this week, claiming the new academic standards are turning children into guinea pigs.
The Westchester County executive on Monday released a video on his campaign website saying he and his wife are protesting Common Core by opting out of the exams this week for their children in third and fifth grade.
Astorino calls the standards "Cuomo's Common Core'' and says New York's parents and teachers will lose local control over classrooms.
Cuomo has been a critic of the Common Core roll-out. The budget being debated by the Legislature Monday will keep Common Core test scores off the transcripts of students in third through eighth grades through 2018.
