The legal challenge is part of a continuing struggle over Common Core, which has become controversial since the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted the standards in 2010.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Seventeen state lawmakers asked a judge on Monday to end Louisiana's use of the Common Core education standards in public schools, saying education leaders didn't properly enact the multistate benchmarks.
Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, who opposes the standards, said the lawsuit was filed in Baton Rouge district court, seeking an immediate suspension of the standards in schools.
"Unless an injunction issues herein by the Court, needless time and resources will be expended in the teaching, testing, learning, and financing of Common Core, all to the detriment of the citizens of Louisiana," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit alleges the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, or BESE, and the state education department did not follow Louisiana's Administrative Procedures Act for rolling out the new standards in classrooms.
The act requires public notice, a 90-day comment period and legislative oversight, provisions that have been followed prior to other changes that have been made to education standards in Louisiana, the legislators said.
Education board President Chas Roemer and Education Superintendent John White planned a conference call to address the claims.
The legal challenge is part of a continuing struggle over the Common Core standards, which have become controversial since the BESE adopted them in 2010. The standards, grade-by-grade benchmarks of what students should learn in English and math, have been adopted by more than 40 states.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, a one-time Common Core supporter and a potential presidential candidate in 2016, now opposes the standards as a federal intrusion into local education, echoing criticisms levied by tea party supporters around the country.
But he and other Common Core critics have been unable to persuade the BESE to change course. Lawmakers also upheld use of the standards earlier this year.
Without following the Administrative Procedures Act, the lawsuit says citizens "were denied their procedural due process rights to have their comments and concerns heard" before adoption and use of the standards.
The lawsuit was filed by 13 Republicans, two Democrats and two legislators without party affiliation.