Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Obama administration, accusing the federal Department of Education of violating federal law and the 10th Amendment of the Constitution by manipulating federal grant money and regulations to force states to implement the Common Core education standards, the Associated Press reported.
Jindal, a possible 2016 presidential contender, has been looking to remove Louisiana from the program, despite opposition from Democrats in his state. "The federal government has hijacked and destroyed the Common Core initiative," Jindal said in a statement. "Common Core is the latest effort by big government disciples to strip away state rights and put Washington, D.C., in control of everything," he added.
The Common Core standards lay out Math and English benchmarks describing what students should know after completing each grade. Developed by states to allow comparison of students' performance, it has already been adopted by 43 states, including Louisiana.
The Obama administration has pushed states to adopt them through "Race to the Top," an educational grant competition that offers $4.3 billion to encourage states to adopt uniform education standards and testing, but also requires them to meet certain educational requirements, The Hill reported. But Jindal claims that it "effectively forces states down a path toward a national curriculum" in violation of the state sovereignty clause in the Constitution and federal laws that prohibit national control of education content.
"Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Education has made changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act state test review and approval process that will coerce states to adopt the federal government's preferred tests or risk billions in federal funding," his office adds in a statement.
Additionally, the Republican Governor has alleged that the Common Core testing groups Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium are part of an effort to nationalize curriculum, according to the AP. "Louisiana now finds itself trapped in a federal scheme to nationalize curriculum," the lawsuit says. "What started as good state intentions has materialized into the federalization of education policy through federal economic incentives and duress."
Meanwhile, conservatives have also targeted the Common Core, arguing that the program is a federal takeover of education. In February, Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) introduced a resolution, with 72 co-sponsors, all Republicans, denouncing federal efforts to push states into adopting the standards.
