Local business leaders are disappointed by David Vitter’s flip-flop on the controversial issue of Common Core. Earlier today, Vitter—a leading candidate for governor in 2015—sent an email to supporters saying he has changed his position with respect to the national education standards and tests that go along with them.
“After listening to literally thousands of parents, teachers and others … I don’t believe that we can achieve that Louisiana control, buy-in, and success I’m committed to if we stay in Common Core,” Vitter says in the email. “Instead, I think we should get out of Common Core … and establish an equally or more rigorous Louisiana system of standards and testing.”
Businessman Lane Grigsby, who has created a political action committee to support education reform, says he feels duped.
“I’m totally disappointed by his reversal of position,” Grigsby says. “Once again, political aspirations trump good judgment. … To discard Common Core is to discard everything we have worked for in the past six years.”
The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry is also upset with Vitter’s actions. The state’s business lobby has been a leading advocate of the national education standards, which it says are needed to make the state’s workforce more competitive.
“Of course we’re disappointed, but it doesn’t change our position,” says Brigitte Nieland, LABI’s vice president for education and workforce development. “We still believe the standards are as critical as they always were. We maintain higher standards are critical for Louisiana’s future.”
This summer, when Gov. Bobby Jindal was attempting to block the implementation of Common Core in Louisiana, Vitter came out strongly in support of the curriculum and standards, which sharply distinguished him from the unpopular Jindal and endeared him to the business community.
Whether he has lost that support for good remains to be seen. Nieland says neither LABI nor its four political action committees typically make endorsements in gubernatorial races. She adds, however, LABI will work with Vitter should he be elected. Grigsby, however, suggests he will be moving his support to another candidate.
“I believe the Louisiana business community is going to stand up to the wannabe governor and say, we’re not backing down,” he says. —Stephanie Riegel
