Common Core opponents in Louisiana have sent an open letter to U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R) asking him to end his surprising support for the controversial standards.  

Vitter stunned his conservative supporters last month with his high praise for the Common Core standards. Earlier, he sent out a fund-raising letter pledging to “protect our citizens…from heavy-handed big government education policies like Common Core.”

The Senator, who is seeking the governor’s seat in Louisiana in 2015, has been viewed as a conservative Republican up until his open praise for the nationalized standards, for which support has plummeted throughout the nation.

The letter to Vitter, which can be signed at the ReconsiderVitter website by both Louisiana and out-of-state residents, states:

If you believe Common Core is just about standards, then you are misinformed. The structure of this initiative includes:  two sets of mediocre academic standards (Math and ELA) intended to stretch across the nation; two standardized assessments funded and reviewed by the federal government; and detailed data systems directly accessed by the U.S. Dept. of Education that will track students from preschool to the workforce. These components, of which the Common Core Standards are part and parcel, are inextricably linked via a myriad of signed agreements and contracts with the federal government, other states, and private organizations and corporations, arising from our commitments to the Race to the Top grants and No Child Left Behind waivers…

“In 2015, we will be seeking a gubernatorial candidate who stands with children, parents, teachers, and others in opposition to the CCSSI or any other form of nationalized education,” the activists wrote. “More federal intrusion will not restore freedom or bring lasting solutions to our educational challenges.”

Breitbart News spoke with parent-activist and attorney Sara Wood, about the letter.

“I do not see Vitter effectively reacting to any of the backlash thus far, in any significant way,” Wood said. “He keeps making the same narrow-minded, ignoramus statement. So in the words of local Chef Emeril Lagasse, we just had to ‘kick it up a notch’ with this open letter.”

Wood said she personally sent three emails herself to Vitter about her plans for the open letter and received “Thx” as his only response to her.

“As a long-time supporter of Vitter’s conservative perspective, I really feel that it is a disservice to his hard-earned reputation to continue to respond in this manner on this very important issue,” Wood added, “because I believe that it will prove to fester into a much bigger problem for his aspirations as governor.”

“I really believe that he will soon learn if he has not already that he and his consultants have greatly underestimated the Pandora’s box that they opened with his statement in support of Common Core and the backlash still to come,” she said. 

Echoing that sentiment, Louisiana state Rep. Brett Geymann (R) told Breitbart News, “Most conservatives feel betrayed by the change in position on Common Core by Mr. Vitter. While we still hope he will rethink his new position and reverse it in a genuine way, conservative activists will search for another candidate in the next Gubernatorial election if he fails to do so.” 

Breitbart News received no response to a request for comment from Vitter’s office.