Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is pushing back against Gov. John Bel Edwards’ call for the state to drop its appeal of a Bobby Jindal-era federal lawsuit seeking to block Common Core, saying late Thursday it’s his decision to make.
“As Louisiana attorney general, I am intervening in this case, and I will determine if it will proceed,” Landry tells Gannett Louisiana.
Richard Carbo, the governor’s communications director, fired back, saying: “As far as the office of the governor is concerned, this case is over. If the Attorney General feels the need to pursue further litigation, he will proceed using his own resources.”
Baton Rouge U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick ruled last fall that Common Core isn’t a curriculum and that federal education laws don’t infringe on states’ rights, but Jindal appealed the case when he was still governor.
Jindal accused President Barack Obama’s administration of using $4.3 billion in federal grant money and policy waivers to illegally pressure states to adopt the English and math standards as well as the associated testing in the Common Core lawsuit filed in 2014.
But Dick ruled Jindal offered “no evidence” Louisiana was made to adopt a particular set of education standards. She wrote that the federal incentives didn’t constitute mandatory acceptance.
Edwards, like Jindal, opposes Common Core, but Edwards says last year’s state legislative compromise combined with the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act makes pursuing the lawsuit unnecessary.
“It does not benefit students to continue to use time and resources to pursue litigation that no longer has any bearing on classrooms in Louisiana,” Edwards says. “Instead, we need to focus on doing everything possible to provide students and teachers with the support they need to ensure a quality educational system.”
As a result, Edwards announced on Thursday that he is terminating a $475,000 state contract with Faircloth, Melton & Keiser, the firm hired by Jindal. Read the full story.
