Lloyd Dunkenberger / News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Signaling that he will be open to the expansion of non-traditional school programs, Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis on Thursday said he wants former House Speaker Richard Corcoran to be the state’s next education commissioner.
DeSantis, the newly elected Republican governor, said he will ask the state Board of Education to appoint Corcoran, who used his two years as House leader to promote the use of charter schools and publicly funded vouchers to send students to private schools. Corcoran would succeed Education Commissioner Pam Stewart, a veteran educator who will step down on Jan. 8.
“Richard is known as a no-nonsense reformer whose sole focus has been how best to support students, parents and teachers,” DeSantis said in a statement.
DeSantis, whose term begins Jan. 8, said the selection of the new commissioner to oversee a state education system, which has 2.8 million students, “is very personal” to him and his wife Casey, who are the parents of two toddlers.
“I know Richard will never stop fighting until every child in Florida has access to a world-class education,” he said.
DeSantis’ announcement to back Corcoran is in line with his campaign pledge to expand school “choice” options and to put more money directly into classrooms. He also wants the K-12 system to develop a curriculum that will teach students about the U.S. Constitution.
Marva Johnson, chairwoman of the seven-member Board of Education, said she looks forward to reviewing DeSantis’ recommended appointment for the next commissioner.
“He has the knowledge and experience to ensure continued success at the Department of Education and to protect Florida’s legacy as a national leader in education,” Johnson said of Corcoran.
On Thursday, DeSantis named Johnson as one of the leaders of a 41-member education transition committee to advise the new governor on policy impacting the entire education system, including public schools, state colleges, state universities and technical schools. Mori Hosseini, a University of Florida trustee, will be a co-chairman of the panel, along with Johnson.
Corcoran, a lawyer and Republican from Pasco County, secured the passage of two major education bills during his 2016-18 tenure as speaker.
In the 2017 session, Corcoran successfully advanced legislation to allow the creation of charter schools, known as “schools of hope,” near struggling public schools. Earlier this year, he backed a bill that created “hope scholarships,” allowing bullied students to use publicly funded vouchers to transfer to private schools. The legislation also expanded vouchers used by disabled students and students who are struggling readers.
Both laws are now being challenged in court.
In contrast to Stewart, who has nearly four decades as a teacher, principal and education administrator, Corcoran has scant direct experience in the education system, although his wife, Anne, helped create a charter school in their community.
Fedrick Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, urged the state Board of Education to conduct a nationwide search for a new education commissioner rather than endorse the selection of Corcoran.
Ingram said Corcoran has not made public schools “a priority” and “has expanded tax-funded private school vouchers and presided over a starvation budget” for public schools.
“His focus is privatization of our schools,” Ingram said in a statement. “As public school teachers and education staff professionals, we put students at the center of everything we do. Politicians can’t be a champion for students and at the same time be at war with educators and public schools.”
But former Gov. Jeb Bush, who led an education-reform movement that included the expanded use of vouchers to send low-income students to private schools, endorsed DeSantis’ decision to back Corcoran.
“Richard is one of the state’s most experienced leaders and has long been a trailblazer in education reform,” Bush said in a statement.
Bush said Corcoran “will fearlessly challenge the entrenched status quo” and “is a passionate advocate for expanding opportunity, especially for children most at risk.”
This must make the fine folks who serve as the propaganda mouth piece for privatization of our public schools. More jobs for you people. Anything to antagonize teachers at public schools is what you people advocate for. And, no, charter schools are not public schools. They are a way of privatizing public schools, not that they are any better, and are often worse.
Dear “Teacher”,
This blog is chock-full of stories highlighting the happiness and successes of children and families that had the opportunities to choose the best environment for their individual needs all over the education spectrum. This blog is staffed by a diverse group of people, many of whom are staunch progressives who were educated in wonderful district schools. Nobody here is in this work to antagonize anyone. That is your own emotional turmoil – and we are sorry to see you going through it. It won’t get you anywhere good. Regardless, please try to return to civility if you intend to post comments on these pages in the future. Thank you for your readership.
It’s interesting that you this blog is “chock-full of stories highlighting the happiness and successes of children and families that had the opportunities to choose the best environment for their individual needs”. When will you be including families who send their children to traditional public schools and and are happy with the outcome since it met their educational needs? Where are the stories of the kids who go to magnets in traditional public schools? Maybe there was an article here or there but I certainly haven’t seen one. I would love it if you could post a link to an article that highlights the happiness of children and families that chose to send their child to a traditional public school. Could you?
Profile from May 2018 – “A magnet school principal makes the performing arts count” – https://nextstepsblog.org/2018/05/a-principal-makes-the-performing-arts-matter/
News from April 2018 – “Magnet schools continue to flourish” – https://nextstepsblog.org/2018/04/magnet-schools-continue-flourish-florida/
Thank you, Mr. Tuthill. I did, however, ask for an article highlighting a family that happily chose a traditional public school. Do you have any of those? Thanks again!
And I am sure that we don’t need to go back 7 or 8 months to find an article about traditional public schools, correct? This blog is updated 5 days/week. I am sure I missed all other other articles about traditional public schools that people happily choose to attend with wonderful outcomes. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Thanks!
Just a point of clarification. The claim was made that articles are posted about families who choose the best environment for their individual needs all over the education spectrum. This blog is “chock-full” of them. Traditional public schools are part of the education spectrum so I am really excited to see those blog posts. I know I missed them but you will be able to point them out to me.
I think the issue you’re running into here is that you don’t share the same definition of public education as we do at RedefinED. From our Mission Statement:
“The aim of redefinED is to report and reflect on the way parental choice is transforming public education as we know it. For more than a century, public education was largely defined by the link between a household and its assigned neighborhood school. Choice has scrambled the deck and, in the process, pushed us all to come to terms with a world in which the decisions parents make are increasingly shaping the agenda.
Our goal is to move beyond the fractious debate that treats neighborhood school assignment and school choice as though they are somehow mortal enemies. We endeavor to examine the opportunities and real-world challenges of customizing learning for each child, and we do so from a state that is the national leader in educational choice. In Florida today, nearly half of all preK-12 students attend a school other than the one assigned by their street address.”
You know when you come here that this blog primarily exists to cover areas of education that get largely passed over in mainstream, legacy media (unless it’s about the surrounding politics of creating those options), but that this blog and its parent organization believe is part of the new definition of public education that places power in the hands of stakeholders that truly matter – parents, teachers, students. If you want five day a week coverage of district schools, there are many other outlets devoted to that. And you are welcome to utilize our search archives – we have been publishing this blog for nearly a decade, so you never know what you might find. 🙂
In response to your 11:44 AM Comment
I really thank you for your explanation, but can you explain the discrepancy between the first response made to my comment (5:47 PM) that explicitly stated there are posts about families who are happy with their educational choice from across the education spectrum and your 11:44 comment that this blog is mainly to highlight the choices made regarding education beyond the traditional public schools?
Which post made by Redefined is accurate?
Thanks!
Both of those statements are accurate.
So where are the posts about the families happy with traditional public schools (which are part of the educational spectrum)? Surely you can point me to them. You posted 2 links from 7 months ago. Surely you can find one post about families who chose a traditional public school to attend and were happy with the outcome. This site is chock-full of them according to the claim made by redefined.
You really need an edit feature on this blog by the way. Sorry for any typos or other errors.