Failed Indiana Superintendent Tony Bennett is Florida’s new education commissioner
He’s in.
Tony Bennett, the hard-charging Hoosier with a rock-star rep, is the new face of Florida’s school system and its full-throttle reforms.
As expected, the Florida Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday morning to select Bennett, the former state superintendent in Indiana, over two finalists with lower profiles. In doing so, they opted to give a new and bigger stage to a former science teacher and basketball coach who lost re-election last month, in a shocking upset, after championing school vouchers, school grades and other Florida-style initiatives.
Immediately after the vote, Bennett told reporters that even though his dream job was in Indiana, “there’s only one state I believe is better than that, and that’s Florida. This state is so vitally important to the national education discussion.”
“I look forward to the great things ahead,” he told the board.
Bennett’s salary and start date are subject to negotiation, but the last two commissioners