La. Gov. Jindal sues feds over Common Core

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — In a move certain to bolster his national standing with conservatives, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal sued the Obama administration today, hoping to strike a blow against the controversial Common Core education standards and raising his profile as he builds a likely presidential campaign.

Jindal's lawsuit accuses the Department of Education of illegally manipulating federal money and regulations to force states to adopt Common Core by dangling $4.3 billion in grants and policy waivers that encouraged them to adopt uniform standards and testing.

"The federal government has hijacked and destroyed the Common Core initiative," Jindal said in a statement. "Common Core is the latest effort by big government disciples to strip away state rights and put Washington, D.C., in control of everything."

While even supporters of the lawsuit question its likelihood for success, the legal challenge represents a new attack on the multistate standards, with Jindal at the forefront of the dispute between conservatives and President Barack Obama.

And the lawsuit comes as opposition to Common Core grows nationally, particularly with Republicans.

The Common Core standards are math and English benchmarks describing what students should know after completing each grade. They were developed by states to allow comparison of students' performance. More than 40 states, including Louisiana, have adopted them.