Will Bobby Jindal's kids take Common Core test?
The children of a potential 2016 candidate won't be getting out of new standardized testing at their schools -- even when their father is a governor fiercely opposed to the Common Core education program that spawned the test.
"As it stands now the kids will take it," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told a local newspaper, referring to the controversial Louisiana Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test that fulfills national Common Core standards.
The governor, whose name has been floated as a possible Republican nominee in the next national election, is engaged in a legal battle against the federal government over the reading and math standards.
"We want to get Common Core out of the classroom," Jindal has said. "Common Core started as voluntary state-led standards. I'm still for that. But it was a bait and switch. Now if states want waivers from No Child Left Behind or other funding from the federal government they have to participate."
The federal government sought state adoption of the standards by offering financial incentives -- an issue that Jindal's suit intends to grapple with in a courtroom. He recently launched a court case suing the government for infringing upon states' rights with the implementation of the English and math standards. A U.S. District Court judge ruled in February that the governor does indeed have standing to bring the suit forward, and the case is officially scheduled for the end of May.
While Jindal initially supported the standards backed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and President Obama, the Louisiana governor has since reversed his message.
Despite all this, his three school-age children -- Selia in eighth grade, Shaan in fifth and Slade in third -- are still going to be taking the PARCC test.
The test, which will be administered for the first time throughout the state's public schools for all third- through eighth-graders beginning Monday, is an offshoot of Common Core standards. Louisiana parents are able to take their children out of testing, and many have already done so.
Jindal still "supports parents' right to opt out and choose what is best for their kids' academic needs," according to Shannon Bates Dirmann, a spokeswoman for the governor.
Common Core, the elementary and high-school education standards that assess proficiency in reading and mathematics, isn't the most popular of federal policies.
Though 46 states, along with the District of Columbia, adopted Common Core in 2010, the standards have since become a rallying cry for conservative activists. Perceived as an overreach of the federal government, the Common Core requirements draw the ire of a Republican base comprised of states-rights die-hards, evangelical Christians and proponents of parental rights.
And it's not just the ultraconservative that have unfavorable reactions to the standards. According to a 2014 Gallup poll, nationwide support for the program has dwindled to just 33 percent of Americans, compared to 59 percent who oppose the standards.
Several contenders for the GOP's 2016 nomination have mixed records on Common Core. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called on the standards to be "the new minimum in classrooms" -- a stance that has made him widely unpopular among conservative hardliners. Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also has changed his tune on the program since considering a presidential run.