Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, who’s on a “listening tour” around Idaho as part of exploring whether to challenge GOP Gov. Butch Otter in the May primary election, said during a recent stop in Pocatello that the Legislature has not yet addressed the state’s new Common Core standards for public school student achievement; his comment was reported in the Idaho State Journal. But reporter Kevin Richert of Idaho Education News notes this morning that the record shows otherwise: The Education committees in the House and Senate approved the standards in January of 2011. Fulcher served on the Senate Education Committee at the time, and still does; you can read Richert’s full report here.

A look back at the Senate Ed minutes from 2011 shows that when the Common Core standards were brought to the panel on Jan. 19, 2011, there was a lengthy presentation, first from state schools Superintendent Tom Luna, who told the senators that 41 states helped develop the standards with the idea that it had to be a state-led effort, not a federal mandate; followed by aide Luci Willits, who described the standards and their development in detail, even giving an example of a standard for sixth-graders.

“Ms. Willits said the State Department of Education does not have rulemaking authority in Idaho,” the minutes state. “Although in other states the Superintendent can dictate standards changes, in Idaho they have to go through the Legislature.” The standards were presented as administrative rules, for legislative approval.

Fulcher was among the senators on the committee who asked questions about the standards during the presentation; he then asked that the vote on them be put off until a future meeting. Five days later, on Jan. 24, 2011, the Senate committee, including Fulcher, approved the rules unanimously.