Ron Desantis hits a home run for school choice in Florida & displays bipartisanship
DeSantis picks South Florida Democrat for emergency post, names education commissioner - Sun Sentinel
Excerpt: Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis made two major hires to his incoming administration, tapping former House Speaker Richard Corcoran for Education commissioner and Jared Moskowitz, a Democratic state representative from South Florida, as director of the state's emergency response agency.
Corcoran is a Land O’Lakes attorney who was term-limited this year after serving eight years in the House, the last two as House Speaker and doesn’t have a background in education. His wife, Anne, however, is a founder of a Pasco County charter school.
He has supported major school choice policies, such as a program allowing charter school companies to compete directly against failing traditional public schools and a new voucher program allowing bullied students to attend a school of their parents’ choice.
Those programs are opposed by teachers' unions and some school administrators who argue they deprive traditional school systems of authority and operating funds.
He oversaw the passage of some of the most destructive education legislation in recent memory,” the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teacher's union posted on Twitter. “We owe it to our students to conduct a national search for a highly qualified education professional as commissioner of education. #StopCorcoran.”
Bottom Line: Somewhere along the way it’d be nice if the FEA realized who they work for and that the job of teachers isn’t to be part of a highly political union that collectively bargains against the interests of taxpayers. As a taxpayer, I’d rather have a choice in how my tax dollars are used for education. Is that really too much to ask? But to the FEA the answer is yes. This gets back to the fundamental issue we have in education. Unions that fight for the status quo and fight to attempt to block you, the parents, from having the ability to use your tax dollars for the education you’d prefer for your children.
Think about how disturbing that actually is. If the status quo public school system was the end all be all they wouldn’t have anything to worry about because parents wouldn’t want to remove their kids from the schools, they control. Doesn’t that raise red flags to anyone? Kudos on Corcoran.
If the FEA has started a campaign to take him out before he’s even in, he'll be exactly what we’ve needed to expand parental choice for education in Florida. #DefundFEA
As for Jared, hat tip to DeSantis for the bipartisanship. This pick is reminiscent of Governor Scott’s choice of Dave Aronberg as Florida’s “Drug Czar” to take on the pill mills in his first term.
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