The heckling of Marco Rubio over immigration was expected.
More surprising was his critique of an education policy backed by his mentor and potential 2016 rival, Jeb Bush.
Rubio’s remarks came during his address to the Americans For Prosperity conference in Orlando:
Rubio also got loud applause when he criticized the Common Core education standards, which have come under assault from tea party activists who see the standards as a federal takeover. By extension, Rubio was jabbing at his mentor, former Gov. Jeb Bush, who is a major backer of Common Core and has worked to defend against the critics.
According to the Tribune Herald, Rubio said he believed in school reform, “but that should be driven at the state and local level, not a one-size-fits all Common Core curriculum imposed on the states by the federal Department of Education.”
Bush recently penned an entire op-ed defending Common Core standards for National Review.
. . . State leaders have worked together to develop a set of rigorous academic standards in math and English language arts. These standards, known as the Common Core State Standards, set an ambitious and voluntary goal line. The states develop their own content or game plans to get into the end zone. State and local leaders call the plays.
This is not the establishment of a national curriculum. Contrary to what Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck tell you, higher standards won’t harm parental choice, indoctrinate our children with a secret liberal agenda, or infringe on the privacy of student data.
Federal overreach is a real concern and one I share. But states’ working together to solve a shared problem is not a violation of federalism. It was state governors and state education chiefs who started and led the Common Core State Standards initiative. And state and local leaders retain authority over the implementation and assessments.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are all scheduled to address the AFP conference.
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