Tony Bennett, Indiana’s outgoing Republican superintendent for public instruction, will move to Florida to serve as the state’s new education commissioner, the Huffington Post reports. The State Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to hire Bennett to oversee the Florida’s public schools and colleges. Bennett is expected to carry over his school reform agenda from Indiana that focused on the Common Core State Standards, a set of national benchmarks for reading and math.
“I think his ability to be up to speed quickly will be very important for the state of Florida,” Florida board member John Padget told the Orlando Sentinel of Bennett.
Bennett’s time in Indiana was defined by a number of initiatives that mirror Florida’s school reform efforts, including grading schools on an A-F scale, expanding charter schools and voucher programs, evaluating teachers based on student performance and pushing for turnaround efforts in failing schools…
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