By Robert S. Perry

With midterm elections just over two months away, politicians at all levels of government are working hard to position themselves as education candidates. For some stalwart proponents of the Common Core State Standards, however, that job has become a bit harder. Just last week, the 2014 PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools found that 60 percent of respondents oppose the Common Core.

This should not have come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to the debate surrounding the standards that have been adopted by 45 states. Just over a year ago, upon the release of the 2013 results, Bill Bushaw, the co-director of the PDK/Gallup poll wrote about the communications challenges that Common Core supporters face as the public begins to understand the standards.

Almost two of three Americans have never heard of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and among the third who have, only four of 10 believe the standards can help make education in the United States more competitive globally. This poses a serious communication challenge for one of the most important education initiatives of our time.  No question—education leaders were caught off-guard by criticism of the standards that emerged less than a year ago. What’s important now is to get accurate information about the CCSS to all Americans.

If this year’s poll results are an indication, the Common Core proponents to whom Bushaw was speaking missed the memo. Over the past year, public opinion of the Common Core – spurred by conservative heroes like talk show host Glenn Beck and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker – has continued to nosedive.

Politicizing of the standards

The politicizing of education is not a novel maneuver on the part of candidates in an election year – nor is the notion of opposition to national standards. As far back as 1892, surrounding the work of The Committee of Ten, Americans have debated the vital elements of school curricula. The Committee of Ten, a collection of progressive era college presidents and scholars, recommended that all students should receive the same high-quality liberal arts education. However, the schools floundered in their efforts to deliver on the recommendations as the nation was met by a wave of immigration and accompanying social and fiscal issues.

A century later, during the presidency of George H.W. Bush, attempts were made to establish voluntary national standards. By 1994, however, an ideological conflict erupted after a draft of the history standards made its way into the hands of Lynn Cheney, who was then the chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Following Cheney’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled “The End of History” and the subsequent backlash from conservative pundits like Rush Limbaugh, the standards movement in the United States was, for all intents and purposes, dead in the water.

The resurgence of national standards in the form of the Common Core is just the next chapter in this tale of political intrigue – and the politicians and pundits are lining up to play their role accordingly.

The resurgence of national standards in the form of the Common Core is just the next chapter in this tale of political intrigue – and the politicians and pundits are lining up to play their role accordingly. Politicians who had once supported the standards initiative, like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, have flipped their position in an effort to assuage conservative voters who view the Common Core as an overreach of federal power. According to Louisiana blogger, Jason France, Jindal even feigned his disapproval of the Common Core by initiating a law suit against political ally, Education Commissioner John White, that he never intended to win.

On Wednesday, Jindal ratcheted up his efforts to cast himself as an anti-Common Core crusader by taking on the Obama Administration. In his lawsuit against Arne Duncan, Jindal claims that the Department of Education overstepped its authority by mandating standards like the Common Core in exchange for federal money as part of the Race to the Top program. Jindal’s suit has brought on cheers from conservatives, tea-party activists, and libertarians and shines a national spotlight on the Louisiana Governor as he weighs a 2016 presidential bid.

Meanwhile, gubernatorial candidates Zephyr Teachout (D) in New York and Tom Foley (R) in Connecticut are using opposition to the Common Core to close gaps in public opinion polls and bring attention to their campaigns. In Republican stronghold Arizona last week, conservative Diane Douglas defeated incumbent State Superintendent John Huppenthal in the Republican primary for State Superintendent of Schools. Douglas ran on a platform that amounted to a single issue – the rollback of the Common Core. From California to Georgia, races like the Arizona primary are unfolding as candidates vie to capitalize on Common Core support and dissent.

Rebranding the standards

As conservative candidates appear to be benefitting from Common Core opposition, the controversy over the standards has created an uncomfortable position for some politicians, like Huppenthal, who initially supported the standards. Tea partiers and Libertarians have tended to oppose the standards, yet organizations like the US Chamber of Commerce, as well as the National Governor’s Association (currently 29 Republicans and 21 Democrats) have been among the hardiest promoters of the Common Core.

In an intriguing twist, Mary Fallin, Governor of Oklahoma and chair of the National Governors Association, signed a bill in June that dropped Common Core from the overwhelmingly red state. In response, federal education officials revoked Oklahoma’s waiver from No Child Left Behind, claiming that the state’s academic standards are no longer up to snuff. (Oklahoma was purported to have reverted to its former standards). Meanwhile, Indiana, one of the first states to drop the Common Core received a renewal of its waiver after creating standards that largely resemble the Common Core.

Even the appearance of Common Core has been enough to set off conservative opponents of the standards. Just days after Indiana received the federal waiver, Common Core opponents took to Twitter and targeted Indiana Governor Mike Pence for what they claimed was a “sloppy Common Core rebrand”. The Twitter rally coincided with Pence’s appearance at the Defending the American Dream Summit hosted by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. The conference is seen as an important stop for those contemplating a presidential run.

In rewriting the Indiana standards, Pence might have been following the advice of fellow conservative (and potential 2016 presidential candidate) Mike Huckabee, who earlier in the year called on Governors to rebrand the Common Core instead of dismissing the standards outright. In playing both sides of the fence, Huckabee is attempting to appease his diverse Republican base. Last week, he called for a ceasefire on the Common debate, declaring that the “Common Core as a brand is dead.”

Other states have adopted the rebranding model. Iowa has come to call their standards, “Iowa Core”, while Arizona Governor Jan Brewer removed the name “Common Core” from the state’s math and reading standards by executive order. Florida has taken up the name “Next Generation Sunshine State Standards”. Kentucky schools chief and President of the Council of Chief State School Officers (the other governing organization that enacted the Common Core) and author of the “Kentucky Core” called for a public review of the standards and suggested that the name ‘Common Core’ would likely need to be changed if the standards will be more widely accepted.

Rebranding, a strategy common in business, is not new to politics. On the Marketplace website, Jonah Newman explains that the Obama administration has faced a similar obstacles in the past.

Obamacare had a similar problem.  People liked a lot of the components, like the ability to keep a child on your insurance policy until he or she is 26 and no longer allowing pre-existing conditions to disqualify someone from being insured.

A November 2013 poll showed that slightly more people approved of the health care reform law when it was referred to by its official name, the Affordable Care Act, than when it was referred to as “Obamacare.”

Will it all be decided in November?

Support for the Common Core has come with a price tag. In November, politicians will be able to decide if the $4.35 billion that states received as part of the Race to the Top in exchange for Common Core complicity was worth the political fallout.

Whether states choose to rebrand, rewrite, or drop the Common Core altogether, it is likely that politicians – at least in the coming midterm elections – will be held accountable for their positions. In conservative states, the backlash will be greater.

The Common Core and its accompanying exams are untested and questions remain about the program’s ability to raise student achievement. Following the midterm elections, and leading up to a 2016 presidential race, politicians will have to decide whether support for future bipartisan initiatives is a prudent political move. They will also have to decide whether or not national standards are permissible in a country of diverse and often vitriolic perspectives.

How are politicians responding to the controversy surrounding the Common Core where you live? Has Common Core detracted from other important education issues in your state or community?