Gov. Chris Christie was for the Common Core educational standards before he was against them.
Christie signed an application for Race to the Top funds in 2010, in which New Jersey agreed to adopt Common Core standards.
Earlier in February, Christie told an audience in Iowa that he opposed Common Core for the way the Obama administration pressured states into adopting the standards.
On Thursday, Christie addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference. “It’s not only the heavy foot of the federal government that’s coming at us, but it’s not doing what we need to have done in New Jersey,” he said in an interview with Laura Ingraham on stage. “We need to have local control. Parents, teachers in those classrooms, they’re the ones who should be helping us at the state level set the standards. So that was all teed up when I came in by Gov. Corzine. We signed on to try to get funds during a really difficult fiscal time.”
Christie would later add, “We’ve got to keep government at the local level, education most importantly. There has to be parents involved, there has to be teachers involved. That hasn’t been part of this process and it needs to be part of this process. And it will be I think, as we move forward.”
Christie also expressed his support for school choice, particularly charter schools.
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana also favored Common Core before coming out against the standards. Jindal will address CPAC later on Thursday.
