Federal Standards for K-12 Education--Good or Bad?

This USA Today article does a good job of summarizing the nationwide initiative to standardize the--well, standards--of elementary and secondary public education. In my opinion, the Common Core State Standards Initiative is long overdue. It undermines "local control" but I'm convinced that might be a good thing, even for Nebraska. Reduced administrative costs are an obvious plus; other upsides include easier transitions for students who move to other states, better education for low-income and historically under-performing institutions, and making public education more attractive to middle & upper-class parents (reducing their incentives to choose private schools and increasing crucial political support for public education).