Republicans are sparring over the role of the federal government in education.
Common Core State Standards, a set of math and English standards for grades K – 12 to be used in common across all states, are at the heart of their disagreement. At least 45 states have agreed to the standards which are set to begin next year. This initiative, developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, has also been endorsed by the Obama administration.
The Republican National Committee has called the plan an “inappropriate overreach to standardize and control the education of our children.”
But a number of Republican governors, including Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Michigan’s Rick Snyder and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are openly supportive of the standards.
“These standards, the common core standards, are clear and straightforward. They will allow for more innovation in the classroom, less regulation, equip students to compete with peers across the globe,” Bush said at a policy conference in Michigan last month.
Emmett McGroarty of the conservative group The American Principles Project said on Tuesday’s The Daily Rundown that his group disagreed with the standards.
“It is not the proper role for the federal government. What children are taught and how it’s taught is something that their parents should have a say in, something their teachers should have a say in. It’s a matter of local jurisdiction; it’s a state matter at most,” said McGroarty. McGroarty criticized the quality of the standards and the process with which they were established. But his primary objection lied in what he sees as an overreach of the federal government. “I am against the federal government having a role,” he said. “The federal role in education should really be limited to civil rights. That is making sure that civil rights of Americans are not infringed upon.” On Wednesday’s The Daily Rundown, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels will discuss his support for the program.
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