Common Core And The Ongoing Battle for America’s Schools
In 'Education Invasion,' the new book by The Federalist's Joy Pullmann, she warns that the federal government may soon control almost every academic aspect of your child's education. Be afraid. Very afraid.
Former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White were once allies in the fight for school choice, as well as unified in leading the New Orleans Public Schools to be the largest charter school district in America. But a once-great partnership spiraled downward to the point where the two men could barely tolerate one another. Meetings of the state board of education became proxy wars where the governor’s appointees vigorously opposed White’s every advance and policy maneuver. The issue? The initiative to establish national educational standards known as Common Core.
Initially, Jindal supported the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), as did a majority of the nation’s governors, thinking it provided an opportunity to strengthen academic standards for the state in the ongoing quest for what education reformers reference as “standards based reform.” Jindal reversed course when public pressure mounted against the initiative. John White, one of the nation’s most prominent education reform leaders and strongest supporters of Common Core, prepared for a fight.
The impasse between Jindal and White grew vicious and personal. Routine board meetings lasted for hours as parents would testify against Common Core by exposing embarrassing examples of questions taken from Common Core-aligned tests. Their impassioned pleas to free children from the tyranny of government sponsored standards was catnip for the news media.
Chas Roemer, then president of the board (once a Jindal ally as well) refused to comply with Jindal’s demands, and the state legislature got involved in the fight. Jindal remained undaunted in his pursuit to rid the state of Common Core. The governor brought a lawsuit against President Obama and the United States Department of Education. After months of legal wrangling, the state of Louisiana dropped the case against President Obama over Common Core after Jindal left office. The entire saga left a residue of distrust between parents, teachers, school leaders, and politicians.
Louisiana was not alone in its Common Core saga. As Federalist Managing Editor Joy Pullmann reveals in the book, The Education Invasion: How Common Core Fights Parents for Control of American Kids, the year 2013 began a wave of Common Core repeal bills in state legislatures that swelled to more than seven hundred across the nation. Common Core grabbed attention in the 2016 presidential campaign resulting in Common Core And The Ongoing Battle for America’s Schools:
