Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal Is Suing the Feds Over Common Core
This morning, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is set to announce he's suing the federal government over Common Core. He's already embroiled in three Louisiana lawsuits over Common Core, and recently concluded another against the Obama administration, contesting its demand for intimate data about students enrolled in the state's voucher program.
Three federal laws explicitly prohibit the national government from directing, supervising, or controlling curriculum and instruction. Common Core, as a system of curriculum mandates and tests to measure whether students have absorbed them, very obviously deals with curriculum and instruction. The CEO of one of the two national Common Core testing groups (PARCC) put it plainly just this week: "High quality assessments go hand-in-hand with high quality instruction based on high quality standards. You cannot have one without the other. The PARCC states see quality assessments as a part of instruction, not a break from instruction." Or, as teachers repeat, "What gets tested is what gets taught."
Did I mention these national Common Core tests are exclusively funded by the federal government? And that the Obama administration set up a panel to regularly review these tests as they've been developed, right down to the very test questions? The Obama administration has repeatedly proved they don't care for this trifling thing called "the rule of law," but that was perhaps to be expected. Worse has been Congress and the nation's governors letting it slide, and not only playing right along, but in education practically begging the feds to issue them more rules so they could keep their red lentil pots of federal cash.