NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal made it clear Thursday that he no longer supports the nationwide K-12 school stands known as Common Core, which have become a lightning rod for the GOP base.
“I am against the Common Core,” Mr. Jindal said, sparking massive applause from the crowd that converged in New Orleans for the Republican Leadership Conference. “I am for standards. I am for our kids learning. I am for our kids being able to compete, but it seems to me there is something fundamentally wrong with the bureaucrats in the federal government — especially [those] who think they know best and they don’t need to listen to parents.”
Last year, Mr. Jindal fully supported the overhaul of academic standards and was among the governors preparing for implementation.
But resistance to Common Core standards is growing and has become a frequent rallying cry among grassroots conservatives, who see it as government overreach and cast it in the same light as Obamacare.
Some have cast Mr. Jindal’s change of heart as a clear attempt to curry favor with the conservative base he would need to woo if he decides to run for president in 2016.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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