Tony Bennett Resignation Splits Education Insiders: Poll
Posted: 08/20/2013 8:15 am EDT
Only 50 percent of education "insiders" surveyed think that Tony Bennett, Florida's former Republican education commissioner, should have resigned after initial reports of a grade-changing scandal.
The survey respondents didn't split along party lines either, Whiteboard Advisors said. The Washington-based consulting firm provided its results first to The Huffington Post.
Bennett resigned from his Florida post on Aug. 1, just days after the Associated Press reported the contents of emails from his stint as Indiana schools chief. The emails showed that Bennett had adjusted the latter state's school grading formula after an influential charter school, Christel House Academy, initially received a low grade.
Whiteboard Advisors, which specializes in school policy, sends a monthly survey to 50 to 75 anonymous insiders, including current and former senior staff from the U.S. Education Department, White House, Congress and think tanks. In the latest survey, it asked, "Should Tony Bennett have resigned?"
Precisely half answered yes, half answered no.
"The only person who can really ask that question is Tony Bennett himself," said Anne Hyslop, a New America Foundation education expert who broke down the