Update: 3:50 p.m.: During a half-hour press conference Thursday, Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett railed against what he sees as unfair persecution for his decision to change the grades of 13 Indiana schools when he was that state’s school superintendent. Still, even though Bennett says he’s been wrongly accused, he also felt the need to resign his position in Florida.
Tony Bennett lost his bid for a second term as Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction when teachers rose up against his push to institute various grading metrics for schools and teachers. Thursday, he quit his Florida job because of those same grades.
“Governor Scott has been incredibly supportive and encouraged me to continue in my role as commissioner," Bennett says. "The decision to resign is mine and mine only, because I believe that when this discussion turns to an adult, we lose the discussion about making life better for children.”
All told, Bennett spent a little more than a year and a half in Florida, overseeing ongoing reforms in Florida which were similar to the ones he instituted in Indiana. At his farewell press conference, the former high school basketball coach once more tried to rally his troops, several times choking back tears to show a defiant, bombastic side – especially when it came to how he planned to handle the allegations of grade-rigging.
“I don’t mind getting in the area. Just because I step away from this office as commissioner of education, that doesn’t mean that I will not be willing to defend, support, uphold the integrity of what we accomplished in Indiana.”
After the press conference was over, Bennett’s office released a letter he sent to Indiana Inspector General David Thomas asking for an official investigation into how his staff, in his words, used “tens of millions of data points” to build Indiana’s school accountability model. Bennett says in the letter he believes he and his staff acted in a “legal, ethical and fair manner.” Calls to Thomas' office seeking comment Thursday went unreturned.
Bennett Thursday said both current governor Rick Scott and former governor Jeb Bush – who helped bring the Hoosier to the Sunshine State – counseled him to keep his job. Bush issued a statement praising Bennett’s time in Indiana but saying little about any accomplishments in Florida.
Also sad to see Bennett leave is state senator and Florida Superintendents Association CEO Bill Montford, who says the state’s recent history of short-lived education commissioners might make some good candidates for the job shy away from it.
“It has not been one that would encourage a lot of applicants for that position," Montford says. "We’ve had a number of superintendents over the last five or six years. That in itself would give people pause in terms of considering their application to fill the position.”
An emergency meeting of the state board of education meeting Friday will pick an interim successor to Bennett – possibly the FDOE’s current chancellor of public schools Pam Stewart. Stewart also served as interim commissioner after Bennett’s predecessor, Gerard Robinson, quit after about a year in office.
Florida Education Association President Andy Ford, whose staff said he couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, did issue a statement urging caution in picking Bennett’s successor, and saying the political appointment of commissioners has become, in his words, “a disaster.”
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Update: 2:03 p.m.: Though there’s no evidence Bennett did anything wrong in Florida, he says the revelation of e-mails sent while he was Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction were stopping his office from working for Florida’s schools, so he had little choice but to step away…
“Every minute we spend defending the credibility of your commissioner because of what’s said 800 miles away is a minute we waste that we should have been thinking about educating children in Florida,” Bennett said to reporters Thursday.
Bennett says he’ll ask Indiana’s Inspector General to investigate whether there was any wrongdoing involved with changing the grades of 13 schools as that state implemented its school grading system, saying he’s, in his words, “fearless about what they will find.”
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Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett is resigning after it was revealed he directed Indiana's Department of Education to change school grades in a way that benefited a school run by one of his main political donors.
Prior to his appointment as Florida education commissioner last year, Bennett was head of Indiana's school system, before losing his re-election campaign.
Bennett took questions from reporters at the Florida Department of Education. He says he resigned to avoid being a distraction.
“It was not fair to governor Rick Scott and his hard work to making Florida one of the greatest states in the country, I don’t think it’s fair to a state board of education...I don’t think it’s fair to the incredible superintendents I’ve had the pleasure to work with...but most of all, it’s not fair to the children of Florida.”
Bennett says both Governor Rick Scott and State Education Board Chairman Gary Chartrand urged him to stay on the job, along with other top state officials and even former Governor Jeb Bush. Bennett is the third state education commissioner to resign during Governor Rick Scott's first term in office. He follows Gerard Robinson who stepped down last year amid political pressure, and former state Education chief Eric Smith who was forced out of office.
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