On Common Core: Georgia U.S. Senate Hopefuls Disagree

Having recently been endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), Karen Handel hopes to be the Republican candidate for U.S. Senator from Georgia after the state’s primary on Tuesday.

In February, Jack Staver caught up with Handel to ask her about the Common Core standards:

“I am against Common Core,” Handel said. “We need to get the federal government out of educating our children.”

“We elect our local school board members; we the people, that’s closest to the people,” Handel added. “And we need to make sure that we determine and drive how we’re going to educate our children.”

“All the talk about standards — we want excellent standards for our students,” she emphasized. “Why? Because that’s what every parent wants for their child and that is what will be good for our state.”

“So I trust our local officials,” Handel said. “I trust our parents to be able to come up with what we need to do in the area of education.”

Running against Handel in the primary is David Perdue, considered to be the GOP establishment candidate.

Staver also asked Perdue his views on the Common Core standards, views that suggest Perdue sees standards as not necessarily influencing curriculum and testing.

“Well, with my mother and dad being teachers, and my wife being a teacher, I grew up hearing local control since I was six years old,” Perdue said. “Common Core as a standard base, I have no problem with. But when they start trying to legislate and dictate curriculum, and that sort of thing, and that includes how you measure up in the test, I have a major problem with that.”

“I’d really like to get the Department of Education out of this, get that money back to the states, and put the power back in the teachers and the parents. This is where it belongs.”

Democrat U.S. Senate hopeful Michelle Nunn, however, is channeling former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and giving her support for the nationalized Common Core standards.

In an interview with the Marietta Daily Journal in March, which was reviewed by Georgia Tipsheet, Nunn said, “I’ve heard Jeb Bush talk eloquently and passionately about this, and I believe that we need to continue to see it through.”

Nunn added, “There was just a poll in the AJC [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] in the front page today that talked about how teachers believe that we need to continue to see this through.”