WASHINGTON — The health care law may be Republicans’ favorite weapon against Democrats this year, but there is another issue roiling their party and shaping the establishment vs. grassroots divide ahead of the 2016 presidential primaries: the Common Core.
A once little-known set of national educational standards introduced in 44 states and the District of Columbia with the overwhelming support of Republican governors, the Common Core has incited resistance on the right and prompted some in the party to reverse field and join colleagues who believe it will lead to a federal takeover of schools.
Conservatives denounce it as “Obamacore,” in what has become a surefire applause line for potential presidential hopefuls.
Other Republicans are facing opprobrium from their own party for not doing more to stop it. At a recent Republican women’s club luncheon in North Carolina, a member went from table to table distributing literature that called the program part of “the silent erosion of our civil liberties.”
The learning benchmarks, intended to raise students’ proficiency in math and English, were adopted as part of a 2010 effort by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to bolster the country’s competitiveness.
Some conservatives, in an echo of their criticism of the health care law, say the standards are an overreach by the federal government.
Yet there is an important distinction: Unlike the health care law, the Common Core retains bipartisan support and has the backing of powerful elements of the business community.
Its most outspoken Republican defender, Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, is also the most talked-about potential presidential candidate among mainstream party leaders and donors.
Bush has called out some Republicans who have switched positions, drawing what will be a dividing line in the campaign if he or other defenders of the Common Core choose to run. He is joined by Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, but theirs is becoming a small club.
“I’m a big fan of Jeb Bush; I think he’s an important leader on many issues,” said Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas. “But on the question of Common Core, I emphatically do not agree with Common Core.”
His opinion of the program is shared by two Senate colleagues and possible 2016 rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Cruz’s view also aligns with that of several Republican governors contemplating presidential runs.
Governor Mike Pence of Indiana signed legislation last month that made his state the first to opt out of the Common Core after having adopted it.
Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin said he wanted his state to establish its own educational goals.
And Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana suggested that he might use executive authority to go around the state Legislature if lawmakers did not withdraw from the group of states developing the standardized test associated with the Common Core.
Jindal’s position, a reversal for him, shows how quickly conservative opposition has grown.
He recently announced his support for a bill that would remove Louisiana from the Common Core, on the same day the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, which supports the program, released a video featuring his earlier endorsement of it.
The Republican revolt against the Common Core can be traced to President Obama’s embrace of it, particularly his linking the adoption of similar standards to states’ eligibility for federal education grants and to waivers from No Child Left Behind, the national educational law enacted by President George W. Bush.
It underlines the ascendance of a brand of conservatism notably different from that of Bush.
Less than 15 years after No Child Left Behind passed with just 34 House Republicans opposed to it, the conservative center of gravity is shifting toward a state-centric approach to education.