Rick Scott’s ed plans. Charter school expansion is a plank in Gov. Scott’s education plan for the next legislative session, but this exclusive Tampa Bay Times story on it doesn’t offer much detail. Here’s the main part that touches on school choice: The plan includes “lifting enrollment caps on charter[Read More…]
Tag: Eric J. Smith
Search for a new Florida education commissioner extended two months
Two more months. As expected, the Florida Board of Education decided this morning to extend the search for a new education commissioner. The board discussed the issue for about three minutes before voting unanimously in favor of a new timeline. The original deadline for applications, Sept. 27, had drawn 16[Read More…]
Florida may get more time for education commissioner search
The Florida Board of Education is expected this week to extend its search for a new education commissioner, marking the second time in as many years it has done so amidst mutterings that the initial pool is mediocre. Through Friday, the board had received 16 applications to replace former Commissioner Gerard[Read More…]
FBOE member: Next Florida education commissioner needs “a lot of autonomy”
As the Florida Board of Education ramped up its search this morning for a new state education commissioner, one of its board members offered a polite suggestion to Gov. Rick Scott and Florida lawmakers: Give the next commish some space. “I think all of us, the board and the political establishment, needs[Read More…]
Eric J. Smith, another Floridian worthy of being Romney’s education chief
EdWeek’s Politics K-12 blog offers an intriguing list of possible education secretaries in a Romney administration, including one prominent Floridian: Jeb Bush. But the otherwise great list overlooked another Floridian: Eric J. Smith, the state’s former ed commissioner. Smith, nudged out last year by Gov. Rick Scott, was hired by the state[Read More…]
In Florida’s standardized testing fiasco, a sober assessment of what went wrong
Florida education officials recently posted a frank internal report about what led to the standardized testing flop that has consumed the ed reform debate for the past two months and sparked the biggest backlash yet against the state’s accountability system. Unfortunately, it received virtually no media coverage (one exception here), which is a[Read More…]
Former Florida education commissioner Eric J. Smith: ‘School choice is an important option’
Eric J. Smith, the highly regarded Florida education commissioner who left after Gov. Rick Scott became governor, has landed at the George W. Bush Institute. His name and new title – fellow in education policy – surfaced today in the Huffington Post, in an op-ed he penned urging states to keep pushing for strong accountability[Read More…]
Virginia ed secretary will be Florida’s next education commissioner
Gerard Robinson, the education secretary for Virginia and one of the nation’s most stalwart advocates for school choice and parental empowerment, was picked just minutes ago to replace Eric J. Smith as Florida’s education commissioner. The vote from Florida’s Board of Education was unanimous. Robinson had been Virginia’s education secretary[Read More…]