States

Judge: Common Core Can Stay in Louisiana Schools During Lawsuit

By Andrew Ujifusa — August 15, 2014 1 min read
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A Louisiana judge has denied an attempt by state legislators to require schools to immediately stop using the Common Core State Standards as part of their lawsuit challenging the state’s adoption of the standards.

On Aug. 15, District Court Judge Timothy Kelley rejected the request from 17 lawmakers for a preliminary injunction as part of their lawsuit against the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. If Kelley had granted the injunction, common core could not be used in classrooms while the lawsuit moved ahead.

The lawmakers have alleged that the state board adopted the common core without following proper administrative procedure. Because of this, according to the lawsuit, the public did not have a real chance to review and comment on the state’s move to use the standards. The state board has rejected this allegation, saying that it followed all the required rules for adopting the common core.

This lawsuit is separate from the legal battle playing out between Gov. Bobby Jindal, the state board, and a group of parents and teachers. The latter two have sued Jindal to challenge his decision to block the state from using the common-core-aligned test from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. They say the governor’s decision will hamstring teachers and create uncertainty for schools in the 2014-15 academic year.

But Jindal has countersued those two groups, claiming that PARCC is an illegal attempt by the federal government to determine curriculum in the classroom.

A version of this news article first appeared in the State EdWatch blog.