The GE Foundation has spent more than $27 million on Erie's schools since 2007.

Foundation President Bob Corcoran made a stop in town Wednesday to check on the return on that investment and make a pitch for the national Common Core State Standards.

At a gathering of educators and business leaders at the Bayfront Sheraton on Wednesday morning and later that day at a meeting with the Erie Times-News Editorial Board, Corcoran said the new standards will make American schools more competitive internationally.

"This is a set of standards that are world class," Corcoran said.

The Erie School District has been a part of the foundation's Developing Futures in Education program for more than five years, starting in 2007 with an investment of $15 million for math and science education.

To read more about Common Core State Standards, visit GoErie.com.