Judge removes Jindal’s Common Core ban

A Louisiana district judge removed Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal’s executive order banning Common Core testing on Tuesday.

Mr. Jindal has been fighting an uphill battle since June with the state’s board of education to combat Louisiana’s participation in PARCC, a collective of states working together to develop standardizes testing based on Common Core.

In a written opinion, Judge Todd Hernandez, said the injunction on testing that was granted at Mr. Jindal’s request caused anxiety within the school system.

“The evidence is clear that this state of the unknown has caused anxiety and other harm to the parents, teachers, administrators and students in Louisiana,” he wrote. “With each passing day teachers and parents lose time preparing students for high stake testing, and there is a lot riding on the student’s successful performance on these tests.”

Mr. Jindal’s chief of staff, Kyle Plotkin, issued a statement condemning the decision.

“We think this judge is wrong on the facts and the law. Hopefully, he will reconsider this preliminary ruling at the full trial. In the meantime, we will seek a stay of this ruling and an expedited writ to appeal to the First Circuit,” Mr. Plotkin said.

He expressed skepticism over the judge’s argument that the injunction caused chaos.

“But how could it create chaos months out before a test if it’s just about standards?” Me. Plotkin asked. “What the proponents of Common Core have proved in this case is that Common Core is about controlling curriculum.”

The Obama administration encouraged states such as Louisiana to join PARCC with grants offered through the Race to the Top program.

Several states have already dropped Common Core this year, including Indiana, South Carolina and Oklahoma.