Dive Summary:

• Former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush defended the Common Core State Standards and called for an expansion of school-choice initiatives through online classrooms at Friday's conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council.
• Conservative lawmakers across the U.S. are split over the Common Core, with some disagreeing with the national approach, but Bush said the standards could raise expectations for U.S. students who are currently unprepared for college of careers.
• Bush also expressed support for enacting policies to hold back third graders behind on reading skills and ending tenure systems.

From the article:

... “I’m not for Common Core at all. I believe education belongs at the local level,” Missouri state Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, said in an interview after Jeb Bush’s speech. “To me, it’s kind of setting up standards that are dumbing down what our students need to study.”

Lawmakers in Indiana have put the implementation of Common Core standards on hold while re-evaluating whether to participate.

“I think it opens the door to federally controlled state curriculum,” said Indiana Rep. Tim Wesco, R-Elkhart. ...