Testing core values: some Republican lawmakers and their business allies have split ranks over Common Core, the national education standards adopted in 2011.

• Author: Mooneyham, Scott
• Position: Capital Goods

Since taking control of the General Assembly 31/2 years ago, Republicans have made no bones about business being a key ally in retooling state government. "We need a united business community/' Phil Berger told a group of top executives, "as we take steps to reduce spending, lower taxes and reform North Carolina's regulatory environment." That was in January 2011, before he was sworn in as the Senate leader. The Eden lawyer's vision of captains of commerce locking arms with GOP lawmakers to undo decade of Democratic policy prescriptions hasn't become a reality. Most influential business groups cheered as the legislature addressed the issues he mentioned that day, but mostly they bit their collective lip when the honorables strayed into the politically prickly thickets of social conservatism.

Now that alliance is being tested by what many would consider an unlikely issue: Common Core. A set of national education standards to improve performance in math and English, it's being condemned by critics as another federal overreach, this time into public education. That ignores the fact that, just four years ago, the National Governors Association, with the overwhelming backing of Republican governors, endorsed Common Core as a way to improve economic competitiveness. Forty-four states, including North Carolina, adopted the standards, which are not a curriculum but set benchmarks through all grades to gauge learning. The benchmarks, in turn, influence curricula.

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory has said he supports them. Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, also a Republican, does not. The state's loudest Common Core critic, he argues that it was adopted in haste and does not recognize unique needs of different groups of children.

In late April, a legislative study committee recommended scrapping Common Core and letting the state Board of Education, consulting with an appointed commission, adopt its own standards. "This bill puts education back where the Constitution says it belongs--in the hands of North Carolina," says Sen. Jerry Tillman, an Archdale Republican.

Some business leaders were not happy about that. The North Carolina Chamber raised a ruckus. President Lew Ebert fired off a letter in which he predicted employers will do more hiring outside the state if Common Core is scuttled. To ratchet up pressure, chamber members were asked to voice their displeasure to legislators. "It is not acceptable to go backwards," says Gary Salamido, the group's vice president...