2016: WSJ Editorial Ignores ‘Conservative Contender’ Mike Pence’s Common Core Problem

This is becoming a habit.

In December, the Wall Street Journal editors described Jeb Bush as a “very, very conservative” potential presidential contender. On Thursday, James Freeman on the WSJ editorial page described Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as a “conservative contender” for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

The WSJ editors seem to want true conservatives to simply overlook the fact that Bush, a two-term Florida governor, is an avid supporter of two things conservatives staunchly oppose: the Common Core standards and amnesty. With Pence, however, Freeman stuck with the governor’s “taxpayer friendly” policies and altogether avoided his Common Core problem.

Hoosiers, however, can’t avoid their state’s Common Core problem because, even though Pence ensured an official repeal of the controversial standards, his new “Indiana standards” are a “rebrand” of the Common Core. Save for a few tweaks, Indiana public schools are still using the same standards with a different name.

In October of last year, co-founder of Hoosiers Against Common Core Erin Tuttle reported that Dr. Debbie Howell, superintendent of the Franklin County School District, sent a letter to a parent who was also a teacher in another district. The parent had complained to Howell that her child’s school was still using the Common Core standards even though the Governor had repealed them.

Howell’s response was reported as follows:

As a fellow educator, I too am frustrated with “outside forces” and politicians determining the curriculum 
for our students. I am aware that early last spring Governor Pence made front page news declaring that 
Indiana was not going to move forward with Common Core. In lieu of Common Core, Indiana has
 adopted Indiana College and Career Academic Standards. For your perusal, I have attached a document 
obtained from the Indiana Department of Education that compares the new Indiana Academic Standards 
with the Common Core Standards. We have highlighted the commonalities. As you can see, the “new” 
Indiana Standards practically mirror the Common Core Standards that the Governor “withdrew” from…

Heather Crossin tells Breitbart News: “Unfortunately, Gov. Pence has a large anchor around his neck – the role he played in rebranding Common Core in Indiana, which renders him as damaged with the conservative base as Jeb Bush.” Crossin is a another co-founder of Hoosiers Against Common Core. “Unless he takes advantage of the current legislative session to right this wrong and rids Indiana of Common Core, in more than name only, it will sink him politically.”