Common Core challenged in lawsuit

Seventeen state lawmakers, including two representing portions of St. Mary Parish, asked a judge on Monday to end Louisiana’s use of the Common Core education standards in public schools, saying education leaders didn’t properly enact the multistate benchmarks.
Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, who opposes the standards, said the lawsuit was filed in Baton Rouge district court, seeking an immediate suspension of the standards in schools. Parties to the suit said this morning they did not have a court date set.
School begins for students Aug. 7 in St. Mary Parish and Aug. 13 in St. Martin Parish.
“Unless an injunction is issued herein by the Court, needless time and resources will be expended in the teaching, testing, learning and financing of Common Core, all to the detriment of the citizens of Louisiana,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit states the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, or BESE, and the state education department did not follow Louisiana’s Administrative Procedures Act for rolling out the new standards in classrooms.
Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Gray, said, “We think that if we don’t take some action at this point in time that they will just implement the more egregious types of Common Core program that we all disagree with and the large majority of the parents in the State of Louisiana disagree with.”
Lottie Beebe, BESE District 3 member representing most coastal Louisiana parishes, was one of three BESE members who issued a news release siding with the legislators in the suit against the board.
“It’s clear that BESE did not follow this requirement when it adopted the Common Core standards,” the release stated.
“Sadly, this is not the only instance where BESE ignored APA requirements when adopting rules that impact our children.
“In 2012, as BESE members concerned about this practice of ignoring the APA, we made a motion requesting an Attorney General’s opinion on the legal ramifications of ignoring the APA requirements. The majority of BESE voted against seeking clarification on APA requirements from the Attorney General,” according to the release.
Beebe, who also serves as superintendent of St. Martin Parish, was joined in the statement by Carolyn Hill, District 8 in Baton Rouge; and Jane Smith, member-at-large of Bossier.
The act requires public notice, a 90-day comment period and legislative oversight, provisions that have been followed prior to other changes that have been made to education standards in Louisiana, the legislators said.
“We find nowhere in statute that gives them an exemption,” Geymann said.
Harrison said, “There’s a lack of leadership from the Department of Education as to what they’re doing and it is very clear now that they acted illegally in taking on the contracts that they have and a number of other issues that are related to the overall educational responsibility of (State Superintendent John) White.”
BESE President Chas Roemer and Education Superintendent John White said BESE isn’t required to follow the Administrative Procedures Act.
“The premise of their complaint is false,” Roemer said. “We adopted the standards clearly, and we followed the law.”
White cited a 2012 law that requires the state to use nationally recognized content standards, saying Common Core is the only set of standards to meet those criteria.
The legal challenge is part of a continuing struggle over the Common Core standards, which have become controversial since BESE adopted them in 2010. The standards, grade-by-grade benchmarks of what students should learn in English and math, have been adopted by more than 40 states.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, a one-time Common Core supporter and a potential presidential candidate in 2016, now opposes the standards as a federal intrusion into local education, echoing criticisms levied by tea party supporters around the country.
But he and other Common Core critics have been unable to persuade BESE to change course. Lawmakers also upheld use of the standards earlier this year.
Jindal has suspended state contracts used by the education department as a way to stop the purchase of testing material aligned with Common Core.
“Though we were not involved in the filing of this suit, we support these and other efforts by legislators to ensure the law is followed,” the governor said in a statement.
Without following the Administrative Procedures Act, the lawsuit says citizens “were denied their procedural due process rights to have their comments and concerns heard” before adoption and use of the standards.
The lawsuit was filed by 13 Republicans, two Democrats and two legislators without party affiliation.
They are Ames Armes, Terry Brown, Henry Burns, Brett Geymann, Johnny Guinn, Lance Harris, Joe Harrison, Kenny Havard, Bob Hensgens, Cameron Henry, Paul Hollis, Barry Ivey, Sam Jones, Rogers Pope, Dee Richard, John Schroder and Lanar Whitney. The group is also known as Concerned Citizens of Louisiana.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.