JEB BUSHN AND VITTER COMMON CORE BILL

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Jeb Bush hails Senate Republicans' stand on Common Core

                         

In this March 19, 2015, photo, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, left, walks with former campaign staff member Rufus Montgomery, right, while visiting the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta.(AP Photo/David Goldman)

Jeb Bush expressed support through a spokesman Friday for a Senate measure discouraging federal incentives for states to adopt the Common Core education standards.

The non-binding amendment, proposed by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and approved Thursday during a marathon voting session on the Senate budget resolution, sought to prohibit the federal government "from mandating, incentivizing or coercing states to adopt the Common Core State Standards."

Bush has faced scrutiny from conservatives for steadfastly backing the standards, in particular as he prepares to run for president. But Bush spokesman Tim Miller told the Washington Examiner Friday that the former Florida governor "applauds" Vitter's stand.

"Governor Bush applauds Senator Vitter and Republicans in the U.S. Senate for ensuring states' autonomy when it comes to adopting high standards that are right for their students," Miller said. "As Governor Bush demonstrated through his leadership in Florida, states have always been more effective at addressing policy challenges in our schools."

The statement of support indicates that Bush would be open to eliminating Common Core as a prerequisite for states to receive federal "Race to the Top" funds, a link put in place by the Obama administration. The funding has become a source of controversy among conservatives, who fear the federal government's encroachment into education, although the standards themselves were crafted by governors and education groups and are adopted by states voluntarily.

Vitter, like Bush, has expressed support for the standards themselves, while cautioning against the federal government pushing states to adopt them.

But Bush has been the target of outsized conservative wrath for defending Common Core, which has quickly become a driving issue among the Republican base.

"Raising expectations and having accurate assessments of where kids are is essential for success," Bush said during a recent stop in Des Moines, Iowa, "and I'm not going to back down on that."

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