A judge has rejected Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s request to block federal officials from penalizing his state if it quits using the Common Core education standards, saying Jindal failed to show any such threat exists.
The Associated Press reports U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick today refused the Republican governor’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the U.S Department of Education and suggested Jindal would have difficulty winning his broader lawsuit against the federal agency. The governor’s attorney says Jindal will appeal the ruling.
Jindal sued the education department in August 2014, accusing it of manipulating $4.3 billion in federal grant money and policy waivers to illegally pressure states to adopt the English and math standards and associated testing.
The governor, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, sought to block Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration from retaliating if Louisiana exits Common Core. Dick says Jindal didn’t prove the state faces any possible injury if Louisiana decides to drop its use of the multistate standards and testing.
“It fact, the alleged injuries that Jindal anticipates, should the state discontinue its use of the (Common Core), appear to be purely speculative considering similar actions taken by other states that have not suffered the anticipated consequences,” Dick writes in her decision.
She also says the governor didn’t prove “there is a substantial likelihood of success on the merits” in the lawsuit’s broader effort to declare the federal grant and waiver programs illegal and unconstitutional.
In his lawsuit, Jindal claimed the education department’s actions forced states to move toward a national education curriculum in violation of the state sovereignty clause in the Constitution and federal law.
In her 33-page ruling, Dick rejected those claims, saying Jindal provided “no evidence” his state was made to adopt a particular set of education standards, curriculum, instructional programs or standardized testing.
