States

Louisiana Drops Common Core Lawsuit Against Obama

By Daarel Burnette II — February 05, 2016 1 min read
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Louisiana politicians Thursday dropped a costly lawsuit against President Barack Obama and his administration over the Common Core State Standards, according to the Associated Press.

Previous Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal filed the lawsuit against Obama in 2014 shortly before Jindal’s bid to become the GOP presidential nominee. In the lawsuit, he alleged that the federal government manipulated billions of dollars in federal grant money and policy waivers to illegally pressure states to adopt the Common Core State Standards.

A federal judge said in September that the standards don’t represent an improper intrusion into education by Washington. Jindal pledged to appeal the ruling.

Recently elected Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday that the recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which specifically bars the federal government from mandating standards, coupled with the state’s own efforts to rewrite its standards makes the lawsuit “educationally and financially unnecessary,” according to the AP.

“My administration will not continue the practice of wasting taxpayer money on lawyers and lawsuits that instead could be much better used in the classroom,” Edwards said.

The state has paid its lawyer $450,000 since the lawsuit was filed, according to the AP.

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