The bitter feud over the Common Core education standards has grown increasingly personal in Louisiana, with critics of the standards raising conflict-of-interest allegations against state education leaders and seeking new ethics restrictions for them.
The Associated Press reports that opponents of the multistate standards are targeting Superintendent of Education John White directly, asking lawmakers to enact tougher ethics limits for White and members of the state education board.
The suggestion is that White has had improper influence from outside groups pushing Common Core and that’s why he’s such a staunch supporter of the English and math standards adopted by more than 40 states. He denies any improprieties—and the state ethics board cleared him after a complaint was filed.
The toughened ethics proposals—backed by Gov. Bobby Jindal—are scheduled for their first hearing Tuesday in the House and Governmental Affairs Committee.
They are the latest salvo in a fight that has grown increasingly nasty since Jindal—once an ardent supporter of Common Core—announced his opposition to the standards a year ago. By switching positions, Jindal broke with White, his hand-picked education superintendent, and education board members who once had been the governor’s key allies.
Ethics complaints have been filed against White and members of his education department, and Common Core critics repeatedly have accused the superintendent and his supporters on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, known as BESE, of conflicts of interest and questionable behavior.
“This is a political assault is what this is, period,” says BESE Chairman Chas Roemer, a Common Core supporter, blaming the Jindal administration for what he called an attack on White’s integrity.
Jindal administration officials deny any orchestrated effort against the superintendent.
But, among other things, the bills pushed by Jindal—sponsored by Reps. Bob Hensgens, R-Abbeville, and Barry Ivey, R-Baton Rouge—seek to target affiliations White has with outside education organizations.
