BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Three of four contenders to be Louisiana's  next governor criticized the state's use of the Common Core academic standards.

The comments about the divisive, multistate English and math standards used in public school classrooms came during a two-hour forum Tuesday in Shreveport, according to The Advocate.

Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards said Louisiana can have high standards without Common Core. Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter reiterated his opposition to the overhaul, including the accompanying tests called PARCC.

Republican Scott Angelle, a member of the Public Service Commission, announced his opposition, saying Common Core doesn't have a monopoly on high academic achievement.

Only Republican Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne stuck to his support for Common Core, and took several verbal swipes at his rivals for their stances against the standards.

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