![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/donald-trump-listening-town-hall-4-4-17-ap-640x480.jpg\")
<\/a>AP Photo\/Evan Vucci<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
by DR. SUSAN BERRY
\nBreitbart.com<\/p>\n
At his CEO Business Town Hall Tuesday, President Donald Trump returned to his campaign promise to end the highly unpopular Common Core standards and once again make education policy the domain of local governments.<\/h2>\n
\u201cCommon Core, I mean, we have to bring education more local,\u201d Trump said at the White House. \u201cWe can\u2019t be managing education from Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president continued:<\/p>\n
When I go out to Iowa, when I go out to the different states and I talk, they want to run their school programs locally and they\u2019ll do a much better job\u2026 And I like the fact of getting rid of Common Core. You know, Common Core, to me, we have to end it. We have to bring education local, to me. I\u2019ve always said it, I\u2019ve been saying it during the campaign, and we\u2019re doing it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This month, concerns<\/a> had arisen about Trump\u2019s commitment to his oft-repeated campaign promise to end Common Core. Toward the tail end of his campaign, Trump\u2019s message shifted from the termination of the controversial standards to school choice.<\/p>\n
American Principles Project senior fellow Emmett McGroarty\u00a0welcomes the return of Trump\u2019s attention to the problematic standards that were quickly adopted by states in exchange for\u00a0the promise of federal cash and relief from onerous federal regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than any other President \u2014 or even presidential candidate \u2014 ever, Donald Trump has empathized with our citizens, particularly parents, who have seen firsthand the damage done by federal efforts to shape and dictate education policy,\u201d McGroarty said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s comments show that President Trump has not forgotten his promise to end Common Core and return to local control of education,\u201d he added. \u201cHe is taking seriously the assurance he made in his Inaugural Address, \u2018Today\u2026 we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nTrump also said his education secretary Betsy DeVos is \u201cdoing a terrific job.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHighly respected, tremendous track record, but she\u2019s got one of the toughest jobs of any of our secretaries, to me, she\u2019s got one of the toughest jobs,\u201d the president added.<\/p>\n
DeVos went to Washington, D.C., to assume her post after working on school choice and school voucher programs in her home state of Michigan. While many in Trump\u2019s base believe school choice is a desirable goal, the view of conservatives and libertarians is that school choice can best be achieved naturally with the elimination of the federal education department.<\/p>\n
A recent Heritage Foundation panel of education policy professionals urged<\/a> the Trump administration and Washington politicians to refrain from making school choice a federal program.<\/p>\n
DeVos has drawn concern over some of her decisions and comments since assuming her post. For example, the secretary has\u00a0surrounded<\/a>\u00a0herself with advisers and staff who have ties to Jeb Bush \u2013 a vocal proponent of Common Core \u2013 as well as to Indiana, where Common Core was repealed but then simply \u201crebranded<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeVos also recently\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) \u201cessentially does away with the notion of a Common Core,\u201d a statement\u00a0many grassroots parent activists still battling against the Core in their states have flatly\u00a0rejected<\/a>.<\/p>\n