On June 18, 2014, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal issued executive orders instructing the Louisiana Department of Education to halt implementation of the Common Core education standards, stating that Louisiana “won’t let the federal government take over Louisiana’s education standards.”

The Common Core is a set of reading and math standards that state leaders began developing in 2009. Despite being voluntarily adopted by 43 states, it has been a flashpoint for debate since then and, recently, legislative backlash. In March, Indiana became the first state to repeal the standards and in early June, Oklahoma did the same. These repeals have been driven by criticism about the difficulty of the new standards, the fear of additional standardized testing, concerns about the speed at which it is being implemented, and worries that it has not been adequately reviewed. It has also become a rallying point for activists who view its promotion by the Obama administration as evidence that the federal government is attempting a takeover of state education standards.

Though Jindal, who brought the Common Core to the state in 2010, professes concerns about interference by the federal government, it is state politics that he must now confront. After issuing the orders asking PARCC, the Louisiana consortium tasked with developing a Common Core aligned standardized test, to withdraw from the state, State Education Superintendent John White and the president of Louisiana’s board of education, Chas Roemer, affirmed that they would move ahead with implementation of the Common Core. White wrote that the “governor does not have [the] authority” to stop the Common Core. In response, Jindal accused the state board of not following the state bid laws in using PARCC to develop the tests. Shortly after White disputed Jindal’s contention, the Commissioner of Administration, Kristy Nichols, announced that the state was immediately suspending approval of that contract, pending a review by the Office of Contractual Review.

As more states change their minds and attempt to repeal the Common Core (South Carolina, North Carolina, and Missouri have all introduced measures to repeal the standards), such sparring is bound to become a hallmark of the rollout of the Common Core. In New York, the second state to test students on the standards in 2013, Common Core criticism became so fervent in late 2013, that public forums on the standards were temporarily halted and on June 19, amid accusations of a flawed implementation, Governor Cuomo and state legislatures reached a deal offering teachers who receive a low rating recalculated evaluations that do not include Common Core aligned state test results. Under the deal, this “safety net” lasts through the 2014-2015 school year. While the Common Core’s effect on student learning remains undetermined, its effect on state legislatures is clear: if the Common Core’s involved, there’s bound to be a fight.