Common Core: The tetherball of gubernatorial politics
What Jindal’s retreat on state standards means for our kids
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal wants to make the state the fourth, including Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina, to turn back Common Core implementation. Jindal adopted Common Core state standards, which put him in line with other presidential hopefuls like Jeb Bush, four years earlier. Since Common Core has become the litmus test for conservatism, Jindal’s retreat apparently increases his presidential profile.
What about the test for children?
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Common Core has essentially become the tetherball of gubernatorial politics. Jindal has jettisoned the Common Core ball over State Superintendent John White (who Jindal helped usher into the position), and small children cover their heads waiting for the game to end. Luckily, White has the structural support of a mixed, elected-appointed board and elected legislature to protect him from the games being played with Louisiana’s children.
The only good to come out of Jindal issuing anexecutive order to effectively pull implementation of Common Core is that he reaffirmed why states need buffers between elected officials and school chiefs. The state superintendent is voted on and approved by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), which is comprised of elected and appointed officials.
What if the Louisiana superintendent was an elected position? Ironically, legislators in this current session took on the question of should the Louisiana state schools superintendent be elected? Given the actions of Governors who have done an about-face, we should assume that John White would have bowed to political pressure.
Thank goodness Louisiana has a structure that can levee political tomfoolery – but for how long?
I’m not that naïve to dismiss what is happening in Louisiana as childish game playing. The stakes are extremely high in state and national politics. Jindal’s Common Core retreat is no where near the worst example of backsliding. Whenever, you hear politicians utter the words, “my position as evolved” be assured a political calculation has been made.
Since Common Core has become the litmus test for conservatism, Jindal’s retreat apparently increases his presidential profile. What about the test for children?
However, the idea of Common Core as a federal overreach iscartoonishly hypocritical and simply not true.
In a press release from the Office of the Governor, Jindal stated, “We won’t let the federal government take over Louisiana’s Common Core: The tetherball of gubernatorial politics | Hechinger Report: