Prodded repeatedly to explain his support for the program, Bush has noted that high standards, agreed upon by states, are different from mandating a specific curriculum. But as conservative commentator George Will has written, "Standards will shape what is tested, and textbooks will be aligned with the tests."

Bush has previously described the standards as "poisonous politically," but on Friday, he seemed thoroughly exasperated by the term itself and looked to move past it.

"I'm for higher standards – state-created, locally implemented – where the federal government has no role in the creation of standards, content or curriculum," Bush said in Iowa.

In most of his descriptions of the standards, Bush avoids using the phrase "Common Core." He says he's OK with states deciding to opt out of using the standards.

He's even taken care not to be critical of their opponents. In the first Republican primary debate last week, he responded to a question on Common Core by turning to rising student achievement in Florida when he was governor.

"Florida's low-income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for," Bush said in the debate.

Sen. Marco Rubio, a fellow Florida Republican and a Common Core opponent, responded that the problem is the Department of Education will use "Common Core or any other requirements that exist nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states."

But on Friday, Bush made clear he's going to address Common Core queries on his own terms, framing the standards as state-run, tested and approved.

"The federal government should have no say in that, and if it's not changed by law I will do it by executive order when I'm president of the United States," he said.



