Republican Sen. Frank Niceley of Strawberry Plains, right, listens to proceedings on the Senate floor in Nashville.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Senate sponsor of a contentious proposal to delay further implementation of the state's Common Core education standards for two years says compromise legislation is in the works.

Earlier this month, a broad coalition of Republican and Democratic House members passed a bill seeking to delay implementation of the new standards, as well as the testing component for the standards for the same amount of time.

The Senate would have to agree to those provisions before the measure would head for the governor's desk.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has said he's against the delay.

Republican Sen. Frank Niceley of Strawberry Plains told The Associated Press today that he's been talking with the governor and they're close to a compromise.