COLUMBUS, Ohio – Common Core opponents in Ohio are finally getting their chance to weigh in on the new math and English learning standards, even though the state’s schools have largely implemented them already.

House Bill 237 – an anti-Common Core bill sponsored by state Rep. Andy Thompson – “will get its first hearing” this afternoon, reports National Public Radio.

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The legislation “would void the Ohio Board of Education’s adoption of Common Core,” and “bar Ohio from using new nationally developed standardized tests aligned” to the new learning standards,” NPR notes.

Thompson’s bill faces some stiff opposition – especially from his fellow Republicans.

House Education Committee Chair Gerald Stebelton has publicly pledged to protect the nationalized K-12 standards from repeal efforts with “kicking and screaming.”

And should Stebelton fail in his self-appointed mission, Gov. John Kasich has promised to veto HB 237.

Those threats aren’t stopping Thompson or the 13 other lawmakers who’ve co-sponsored the bill.

Ohio residents of all political stripes and beliefs should be grateful for that.

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Why?

The one thing Common Core supporters and detractors agree on is that the new standards will transform public education as we’ve known it. Some want those changes; others fear them.

Regardless of where one comes down on the Common Core question, all Americans can agree that taxpayers and their legislative representatives have a right to examine and question these standards before they’re allowed to take full effect. This is far too important a matter to leave to a largely anonymous body, like the State Board of Education.

Thompson will take a lot of flak for pushing this bill. He’ll probably be attacked as a Tea Party conspiracy theorist by the so-called experts who are pushing the standards.

That’s a shame, because anyone who believes in the American system of representative democracy understands that Thompson’s effort is honorable and necessary.