On Friday a House panel voted to approve a new constitutional amendment that would bring back the elected position of Education Commissioner in Florida. The last person to be elected to the office of Education Commissioner was Tom Gallagher, who in 1998 defeated Democrat Peter Wallace by a 56-44% margin.
If the amendment is passed, the change would reverse what voters did when they eliminated the post and created a Board of Governors to oversee our state’s universities.
The new amendment would shrink the Board of Governors and make the Education Commissioner a cabinet-level post, to be filled by statewide election. It would also do away with the appointed Board of Education, which oversees the K-12 system, and in turn give those duties to the Governor and the Cabinet.
Republicans in the legislature have been pushing this forward for some time, but there is still significant opposition that must be overcome. Both Jeb Bush and Bob Graham, powerful former governors, have come out against restoring the elected post. Graham was instrumental in doing away with it back in 2002.
March 9th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
interesting. it’ll be interesting to see how this play’s out. does anyone know if this sort of reform has to be passed by public referendum, or is it up to tallahassee at this point?