Gov. Jindal sues Obama administration over Common Core

President Obama’s lawyers just got a little bit busier as yet another Republican is filing a lawsuit against the  President.

Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana is suing the Obama administration over implementation of the Common Core education program of standards and testing.  

“Common Core is the latest effort by big government disciples to strip away state rights and put Washington, D.C. in control of everything,” Jindal said In a statement released by his office.  

Jindal alleges that Common Core is in violation of states’ rights by forcing them to adopt the federal program “Race to the Top”, which awards states with funding for “implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform.”  But to participate in the program, states enter into, according to Jindal, “binding agreements to adopt and fully implement a single set of federally defined content standards and to utilize assessment products created by a federally sponsored ‘consortia.’”  More than 40 states participated in the “Race to the Top” program, which provided states with $4 billion in federal funding to implement “college and career-ready” standards in education.

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But the irony here is that the Common Core Education program was once something Jindal enthusiastically backed several years ago.  His attorney tells the Huffington Post the governor had a change of heart once he discovered how “intrusive” the Common Core was when he learned more about it.  Yet, he accepted more than $17 million in federal aid through “Race to the Top” and previously supported the standards and tests that were part of Common Core and voluntary for states participating.

Jindal is also fighting an education battle in his home state of Louisiana.  The state legislature backs the Common Core and has sued the governor for exceeding his authority on the matter.  In response, Jindal filed a countersuit against the state school board in an attempt to invalidate the Common Core pact the state signed in 2010 with the federal government to develop tests for the program.