As soon as Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush suspended his campaign after barely registering in the South Carolina primary, anti-Common Core activities began their gloating.

Bush, one of the only and certainly the most prominent Republican candidates to praise Common Core, faced criticism for his support through the entirety of his campaign to the conclusion of it.

“'From the very beginning, Governor Bush’s stubborn support for the low-quality Common Core standards permanently damaged his credibility with voters — and not just with conservatives but with voters across the political spectrum,' Emmett McGroarty, director of the American Principles Project, said in a statement sent to The Daily Caller."

Bush, however, never wavered from his support of the standards and said he didn’t regret standing his ground to “give more Americans the opportunity to rise up and reach their God-given potential,” The Daily Caller said.

What many voters misunderstand is that the next person who takes over the Oval Office will have very little say about the standards that are already engrained in the curriculum of most states.

Someone else who misunderstands that as well? Donald Trump. Front-runner Trump frequently relies on Republican voters’ disdain for federal government influence in education to rally support for himself.

During a video posted to his Facebook page last month, Trump went on a rant against the need to end Common Core standards.

"I'm a tremendous believer in education, but education has to be at a local level. We cannot have the bureaucrats in Washington telling you how to manage your child's education...So Common Core's a total disaster, we can't let it continue,” he said.

Unfortunately for him, should he be elected into office, he’ll have a hard time making that happen on a national level.

"For all the applause lines, the problem any President has is that ending Common Core isn't really just up to the man or woman in the Oval Office,” said CNN.

The standards came into fruition after Bill Gates poured $200 million into the effort, helping education groups to get on board after the standards were created by a small group of education leaders. Bill Gates has continuously proclaimed support of the standards since making this investment, and his opinion is really about as meaningful as the next President's. 

While President Obama had previously used incentives that tied federal dollars to states adopting the Common Core, the new education legislation, the Every Student Succeeds Act, has made it so incentivizing the standards is no longer an option.

"Notably, the new law prohibits any actions by the federal government to require or incentivize states to adopt Common Core or other school standards,” The Daily Caller said.

This is significant because it truly does emphasize the fact that the Department of Education has the least amount of power over Common Core implementation than it ever has- and so will the next president.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

2/22/2016