ELECTIONS

Can Bush and Kasich win over Republicans while supporting Common Core?

Chrissie Thompson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLUMBUS, Ohio — “No Common Core! No Common Core!”

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

The call from a couple of Tea Partiers rang out as Jeb Bush wrapped up a speech this month to the Americans for Prosperity convention in Columbus.

At a John Kasich press conference in February, the anti-Common Core critique was more direct:

“Why are candidates like you and Jeb Bush running away from the Common Core, your past support of the Common Core standards?” a South Carolina voter asked him.

Billionaire Donald Trump, who leads GOP presidential polls, last month called Bush’s support for the educational standards “pathetic.”

“He’s in favor of Washington educating your children,” Trump told Fox News’ On the Record.

Bush and Kasich, the ultimate swing-state governors, stand by their support for Common Core, saying it’s not a federal program. States chose to adopt the independently crafted set of education standards, they say. And they’re right.

But both Kasich and Bush, increasingly battling each other in their quests to be president, need the vote of Republicans who disagree with them. The issue is far more complicated, conservatives say.

Even if it’s not a federal law, the relationship between federal money and Common Core has created a federal education monster, some conservatives say, stifling the influence of local parents. The Republican National Committee this month called Common Core a vehicle for “federal intrusion into education policy-making.”

Among GOP governors running for president, Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, New Jersey’s Chris Christie and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal all initially supported Common Core but have since changed their minds amid mounting pressure from conservatives.

Meanwhile, candidates such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz have vowed to “repeal every word of Common Core” — which isn’t a federal law in the first place.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks in Derry, N.H., on Aug. 12, 2015.

WHAT BUSH AND KASICH SAY

Kasich’s approach on Common Core has remained consistent: Ohio, where he serves as governor, needed higher standards. Common Core provides higher standards, and the state chose to adopt Common Core. School districts can still choose their own curriculum. He’s sounded borderline exasperated by conservatives who insist otherwise, once calling opposition to Common Core “a runaway Internet campaign.”

“We’ve got this big war in the country over Common Core. Did you hear anything from me that didn’t sound like local control?” Kasich said this month at a conservative-leaning education summit in New Hampshire.

“I’m not going to change my position because there’s four people in the front row yelling at me,” he said.

Bush’s stance is nearly identical.

“If people don’t like Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are much higher than the ones you had before,” the former Florida governor said at the education summit. “States ought to drive this. There should be no federal government involvement in curriculum content or standards for sure, directly or indirectly.”

But to many Republican voters, Common Core is tainted with federal involvement, dictating what their children will learn and what tests they’ll take.

The Common Core standards aren’t a federal program or law. They were developed by the independent Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association in 2009 and originally adopted by 46 states, including Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, New Jersey and Louisiana.

In recent years, the White House has become a supporter, making the standards one way to meet criteria for millions of dollars in Race to the Top competitive grants or waivers that release a state from requirements of No Child Left Behind.

That’s where the federal influence comes in, some argue. And on that point — whether Common Core standards should be rewarded with federal money — Kasich and Bush are more vague.

Kasich supports “high standards that should be developed by the states,” said Rob Nichols, a spokesman for the Ohio governor. “The fact of the matter is you don’t have to be in Common Core to get either Race to the Top money or No Child Left Behind waivers. You just have to have high standards.”

Bush has mentioned concerns with tying the federal money to state programs but has stopped short of addressing the relationship between Common Core and federal money outright.

In a March 6 op-ed, Bush wrote in The Washington Post: “Federal funding has become a whipping stick to be used on local district leaders.”

On Race to the Top, he says he supports providing monetary incentives for “things that matter.”

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush speaks to supporters at a town hall meeting on Aug. 28, 2015, in Norfolk, Va.

HOW VOTERS WILL RESPOND

Common Core remains a hot-button issue among conservatives. The latest anti-Common Core resolution from the RNC came out just this month.

Still, the issue isn’t front of mind for most voters these days — even in early-primary, conservative South Carolina, which dumped Common Core this year for similar, state-developed guidelines.

“If you asked people in South Carolina whether they’d be in favor or opposed to Common Core, I think the majority would say, ‘Opposed,’ " said Joe Mack, an influential conservative and former director of public policy for the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

He added, though that "it’s probably not on the front burner like it was maybe a year ago,”

A common response on finding out Kasich's or Bush’s stance on Common Core: Well, I disagree with that, but I’ll have to think about it.

“I don’t think there’s any one issue that should be a deal breaker, period,” said Peter Taylor, of Plaistow, N.H. Taylor and his wife, Maureen, have decided to support Kasich.

Bush's and Kasich’s moderate stances carry more appeal in pragmatic New Hampshire, home to the nation’s first primary. Kasich especially is betting on the state, with his allies devoting most of their resources to New England television commercials.

Common Core “is nowhere near as big of an issue in New Hampshire as it is in other states,” said pollster Andrew Smith, director of the Survey Center at the University of New Hampshire.

The issue may pose a greater threat in two other early-voting states.

In Iowa, where Republicans will be first to vote in February, 61% of likely GOP caucus-goers oppose using Common Core standards, according to a Des Moines Register Iowa Poll conducted in February.

In South Carolina, “I have to think it is pretty problematic,” Mack said of Bush's and Kasich’s support, but he said their more moderate stances on immigration will probably cause them more trouble.

In the end, Bush and Kasich’s sometimes-vague remarks may ensure voters don’t realize they support Common Core in the first place.

After the New Hampshire education summit, a reporter asked a cluster of attendees whether Bush and Kasich’s support for Common Core crippled their chances of winning the GOP nomination.

But Kasich and Bush don’t support Common Core, said Ann Gaffney, a Londonderry teacher.

“He said we should have standards, and they should be fewer and high, but that they should not be federally driven,” Gaffney said of Bush. “Common Core is federally driven.”

Contributing: Benjamin Lanka, Gannett Ohio