A Letter to the Florida Board of Education
Florida law authorizes the State Board of Education, not the Governor, to name the Commissioner of Education. The Governor appoints the board, but not the Commissioner. In the past, the State Board has conducted national searches to fill the position. Read more about past searches for Commissioners of Education here.
Now that current Commissioner Pam Stewart has re-announced her retirement, rumors are swirling that Governor-elect Ron DeSantis wants House Speaker Richard Corcoran as Florida’s new Commissioner of Education. We believe he is the wrong choice for Florida’s public schools.
The Florida Education Association and other public education advocacy groups are asking citizens to reach out to the State Board of Education, ask them to reject Corcoran’s nomination and request they conduct a national search to find the appropriate candidate for Commissioner of Education. Please consider writing the Board to express your concerns.
This is my letter to the FLBOE:
Chair, Marva Johnson – Marva.Johnson@fldoe.org
Vice Chair, Andy Tuck – Andy.Tuck@fldoe.org
Gary Chartrand – Gary.Chartrand@fldoe.org
Ben Gibson – Ben.Gibson@fldoe.org
Tom Grady – Tom.Grady@fldoe.org
Michael Olenick – Michael.Olenick@fldoe.org
Joe York – Joe.York@fldoe.orgDear Madame Chair and Board Members,
I am writing to ask you to reject Richard Corcoran as the new Commissioner of Education and, instead, conduct the customary national search for a new commissioner, following the resignation of Pam Stewart.
Florida voters showed there overwhelming support for public education when they passed 24 out of 24 local school referendums during the last election cycle. Floridians like their community schools. Mr. Corcoran would like to disrupt those schools and replace them with private options. He has a reputation as a “bare-knuckled political brawler who uses words as weapons.” He called the teachers’ union “evil” for filing a lawsuit against vouchers. He coined the phrase “failure factories” to describe low scoring, low socioeconomic schools, and then created “Schools of Hope,” a plan to entice privately managed, corporate charter school chains to create networks across Florida. He lambasted school districts for building “Taj Mahal” schools, suggesting districts “spend more on construction than on helping students in struggling schools.” (As you know, district schools are not allowed to spend capital funds in the classroom.) Mr Corcoran has repeatedly used negative rhetoric as a weapon against our public schools. Such political brawling may be effective in intimidating lawmakers into supporting destructive public ed policy, but it will not make him an effective commissioner or communicator for the Department of Education.
Article IX of the Florida Constitution states “The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida.” Commissioner Stewart was able to provide guidance for both public and choice schools. Appointing a commissioner who intends to destroy the schools where the majority of Floridians send their students would defy the Constitution. Florida needs an Educator, not a bully, leading its Department of Education.
Please reject Mr. Corcoran and find a Commissioner who is willing to direct ALL of our schools.