Sen. Vitter Proposes Bill to Help States Leave Common Core

Sen. David Vitter has put together a bill that would make it easier for states to withdraw from the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

The Louisiana Republican, who took office in 2005, drafted the Local Control of Education Act. The legislation would ease the burden for states who want to exit the program, which sets national standards for students in the classroom.

Critics of Common Core argue it is a way for the educational system to be controlled and managed by the federal government, rather than at the state and local level.

The bill would "prohibit the Federal Government from mandating, incentivizing, or coercing States to adopt the Common Core State Standards or any other specific academic standards, instructional content, curricula, assessments, or programs of instruction."

Under the law, the government would not be allowed to "incentivize a State, local educational agency, or school to adopt any specific instructional content, academic standard, assessment, curriculum, commonality of standards or assessments, or program of instruction … which shall include providing any priority, preference, or special consideration during the application process based on any specific content, standard, assessment, curriculum, commonality, or program."

The government provides $4.35 billion in grants and waivers to states that sign up for Common Core.

"I've fought tooth and nail for local control of education and against the enormous growth of federal power under President Obama," Vitter told The Daily Signal.

"That includes prohibiting the federal government from mandating, coercing or bribing states to adopt Common Core or its equivalent."

Of the 46 states who joined the program when the standards were first released in 2010, three have since abandoned — Indiana, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

Missouri, North Carolina, and Louisiana are working to purge it from their education systems, while another group of states — Alaska, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia — never joined the program at all.

Vitter previously supported Common Core but changed his mind. He announced his new position last week in an e-mail to supporters.

Vitter plans to run for Louisiana governor next year. Under state law, he does not have to forfeit his Senate seat during the gubernatorial campaign.

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• Jeb Bush: Common Core Should Be The 'New Minimum' in Classrooms