Dive Brief:
- Potential 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush aimed to start a conversation with critics of the Common Core State Standards by saying they should be the "new minimum" for America's classrooms, and that if states want to deviate from them, they should create something more challenging.
- Many conservatives oppose the national standards on the grounds that they see them as an encroachment upon state sovereignty.
- To appease naysayers of the standards, which Bush has supported, the former Florida governor said states should be allowed to create their own education plans with federal dollars.
Dive Insight:
In addition to expressing support for the Common Core, Bush also took a few jabs at the Obama administration.
"If the federal government wants to play a role in reform, it should stop tying every education dollar to a rule written in Washington D.C.," Bush said at his first major speech since the midterm elections. "Education should be a national priority, not turned into a federal program."
Comments like these reference the administration having gone to great lengths to tie the Common Core to grant competitions like Race to the Top.