Yesterday, Education Week reported that 46 states have agreed to join forces to create common academic standards in math and English language arts through an effort led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. A primary goal of the initiative is to “eliminate the patchwork of academic standards across the country that result in students in the same grades learning different things in different states.” In Mississippi, for instance, 90 percent of fourth-graders passed the state reading exam in 2007, according to U.S. Department of Education data. But only 51 percent had at least “basic” or “partial mastery” on the test known as the Nation’s Report Card.

Republican Governors Sarah Palin of Alaska and Mark Sanford of South Carolina – the same governors who postured to reject millions of education stimulus funds – are among the four governors refusing to join the initiative. In a press release Palin said:

Alaska’s decision not to participate until after we monitor this is based on our desire to spend our time and public resources to improve instruction in the classroom and to form productive relationships between schools and the communities they serve.

However, Alaska state education commissioner Larry LeDoux noted that merely signing up for the initiative would not drain any state resources. The Washington Post reported that the sign-up phase for the initiative is a preliminary step and that later “each state would decide individually whether to adopt” the proposal recommended by the organizers.

South Carolina cannot officially join the initiative because Sanford refused to co-sign South Carolina’s application with State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex. Sanford’s spokesman said he opposed signing the application because the “governor does not have a role in implementing education policy.” However, Rex is a strong proponent of the initiative and by refusing to sign the letter, Sanford is essentially setting education policy. Sanford’s obstruction most likely stems from Rex’s outspoken criticism of Sanford’s decision to block $700 million in stimulus money for education and public safety.

According to a report by the Center for American Progress and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on educational effectiveness, both South Carolina and Alaska received a ‘D’ in overall academic achievement:

Notably, this initiative is a voluntary effort that promotes ideas from the states – something conservatives claim to support – rather than a mandate decided by an agency in Washington, DC.

Manuel Miranda, who was busted for hacking into the files of Senate Democrats while he served as an aide to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), is leading the conservative charge against Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. At a Heritage Foundation lunch for conservative bloggers today, Miranda discussed how conservatives could attack Sotomayor’s qualifications without alienating the Latino community. Miranda, who is Latino himself, argued that Latinos had concerns similar to those of “everyone else,” but then appeared to suggest that African-Americans somehow think differently from other people. Latinos are “not like African-Americans. We think just like everybody else”:

Hispanic polls, Hispanic surveys, indicate that Hispanics think just like everyone else. We’re not like African-Americans. We think just like everybody else. When I was on the leader’s staff, someone called me once and asked me: ‘What’s Senator Frist’s Hispanic agenda?’ I said, ‘low taxes, better education, more jobs … what are you talking about?’ And that’s how Hispanics are. This is an opportunity to educate them on all of our issues and they will resonate in the way that they resonate with everyone else.

Adam Serwer remarks, “I’m interested to hear Miranda’s explanation of the cognitive differences between black people and the rest of America.”

Earlier today, former Republican senator George Allen officially launched his latest venture, “an industry-backed anti-regulatory group” called American Energy Freedom Center. In a webcast today, Allen claimed that he wants to “tell people the truthful story about America’s energy potential that has never been told before.” Allen’s new organization is a partner group to the Institute for Energy Research, which is partially funded by Exxon Mobil and run by Robert Bradley Jr., who worked at Enron. In 2003, Bradley wrote the book “Climate Alarmism Reconsidered,” which argued that “that climate alarmism and its corollary, policy activism, are unwarranted and counterproductive” in the face of global climate change.