Over the past year, State Rep. Brett Geymann (R-Lake Charles) has emerged as a leading opponent of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and on Monday, the Southwest Louisiana lawmaker once again spoke out against CCSS in an editorial in the Shreveport Times, explaining, “I feel the need to share some of the reasons why Common Core is a bad idea for our state.”

As one might expect, what followed was more an exercise in crude demagoguery than a logical defense of his opposition to the standards. At various points in his editorial, Geymann attempted to tug at emotional heartstrings…

“There is nothing standard or common about our children. Children learn differently as God made each one of them unique and with a purpose in life. The word ‘standard’ and ‘common’ should apply to the assembly line, not to our children and our education system.”

He tried some subtle jingoism…

“While we should always work toward improving, there is not a single country that ranks above us on any international test that we should aspire to be like.”

And he even resorted to fear-mongering…

“Common Core is not the answer to any of our educational problems. In fact, it will be the end of state and local control over our education system and it will very likely be the end of American exceptionalism as we know it.”

Of course, his piece in the pages of the Shreveport Times is just part of an effort to build public support behind anti-CCSS legislation that Geymann and a handful of his fellow lawmakers on the far-right fringe have been promising to introduce during the upcoming legislative session.

However, a series of bills pre-filed by Geymann in the past week reveal that he not only wants to pull our state out of the Common Core, but wants to pull down the state’s entire public education policymaking structure. For example, Geymann has pre-filed two bills – H.B. 273 and H.B. 276 – that when taken together would amend the state constitution to abolish BESE and transfer the board’s powers to an elected State Superintendent of Education. The bills would also allow the legislature to get deeply involved in the complex process of determining the Minimum Foundation Plan (MFP) formula which helps fund our public schools.

It’s not hard to imagine the potential pitfalls that could emerge if these bills became law. It would mean the direction of Louisiana’s public education policy would be determined by a single individual, totally independent of the legislative and executive branches of state government. Furthermore, making the State Superintendent an elected office would inject an unhealthy dose of politics into a process that should be insulated from the distractions of campaigning and fundraising. And finally, allowing the legislature (and the pork barrel politics and horse-trading that comes with it) to amend the MFP formula could threaten the fair allocation of state funds to public schools, especially those serving low-income communities.

While these two bills represent Geymann’s frontal assault on BESE, H.B. 277 could interpreted as his indirect attack on the state board. The proposal would prohibit former board members – or any organization for which they serve as an “an officer, director, trustee, partner, or employee” – from engaging in any transactions with (or even appearing before) BESE for up to four years after leaving office. Clearly, such restrictions would severely hamper the ability of the BESE to conduct its business and would most likely deter otherwise qualified individuals from seeking to serve on the board.

Geymann’s inability to articulate a coherent rationale for opposing Common Core, along with his efforts to undermine the state board of education, raise the question of whether Geymann’s motivation is politics rather than the needs of students. Staking out extreme positions might be one way of gaining attention and influence, but our public schools should never become pawns in political games. Hopefully, lawmakers will keep that in mind and stop these proposals dead in their tracks in the coming weeks.

Update (2/26/14): Rep. Brett Geymann has pre-filed SIX additional bills that either seek to reverse Louisiana’s adoption of Common Core and/or undermine the integrity of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE):

House Bill 374: This bill would amend the state constitution to make the three at large members of BESE elected rather than appointed positions. As noted above, Geymann also filed a bill that would abolish BESE and transfer their responsibilities to an elected State Superintendent of Education.

This bill would amend the state constitution to make the three at large members of BESE elected rather than appointed positions. As noted above, Geymann also filed a bill that would abolish BESE and transfer their responsibilities to an elected State Superintendent of Education. House Bill 376: This bill would requires that state content standards developed by the state Dept. of Education be promulgated in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

This bill would requires that state content standards developed by the state Dept. of Education be promulgated in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. House Bill 377: This bill would make state content standards subject to legislative approval and would allow the legislature to recommend changes to state content standards (a scary thought).

This bill would make state content standards subject to legislative approval and would allow the legislature to recommend changes to state content standards (a scary thought). House Bill 378: This bill places further limitations and prohibitions on the collection and sharing of student information even though there are ample protections already written into state and federal law.

This bill places further limitations and prohibitions on the collection and sharing of student information even though there are ample protections already written into state and federal law. House Bill 379: This bill would allow local school boards to develop and implement their own standards so long as they “meet or exceed the rigor of the state standards” but provides no guidance for how that vetting process would work.

This bill would allow local school boards to develop and implement their own standards so long as they “meet or exceed the rigor of the state standards” but provides no guidance for how that vetting process would work. House Bill 381: This bill would create the Student Standards Commission to develop state standards for required subjects for public school students, effectively forcing the state to start the process of adopting content standards over again.