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Next governor should get say on education

Gov. Bush set up the board such that his successor may be stuck with it.

Voters got rid of the elected education commissioner in Florida to strengthen the governor's hand with public schools. To hear appointed commissioner John Winn tell it, though, the next governor will have one hand tied behind his back.

Winn and the headstrong state Board of Education, whose members were all appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush, have built a little fortress around their institutional status quo. The board was created in 2001, allowing Bush not only to appoint its seven members but to decide how to stagger their four-year terms. As a result, the next governor, Republican or Democrat, may not be able to appoint a majority until his fourth year in office.

Winn, who was previously Bush's education policy analyst, now tells people his job is safe even after Bush leaves. Says Winn: "The governor can't fire me."

Winn is right, but his smugness is unbecoming. He was appointed after no national search, no public debate, no job posting. He was appointed because Bush wanted him for the job. The board, led by Bush campaign fundraiser Phil Handy, did exactly as told. The board, in fact, always does what the governor wants. Handy often reminds them to "stay on message," and the only member who strayed from the script, Boca Raton businessman Charles Garcia, is no longer there.

Winn and Handy need not be faulted for their obedience, only their duplicity. They have repeatedly argued that voters wanted the governor to have real authority to make changes - except, apparently, when that principle is applied to the next governor.

Handy, who is famous for his successful campaign for political term limits in Florida, is now trying to extend his own stay on the board by arguing his first 18 months didn't really count. If he succeeds, he may well serve more than the eight consecutive years allowed under law. He already has served as chairman more than the four years prescribed by law.

The appointed board, which replaced the elected State Cabinet, was intended to insulate the Department of Education from wholesale political turnover when administrations change. But it never was meant to tie a future governor's hands. If Bush decides to reappoint Handy and T. Willard Fair when their terms end Dec. 31, he would be insisting the next governor stick with Winn for at least three more years. Would Bush, who campaigned as the "education governor," have gladly waited three years to pick his own commissioner? Not a chance.

The two Democrats in this year's gubernatorial race have made unrealistic claims about the changes they will make in public schools. But all four major candidates are entitled to put their own stamp on education, and Winn's gambit raises legitimate questions. Should any new governor be prevented from appointing a board majority until a fourth year in office? If Winn thinks he is unaccountable to the next governor, who really is going to run the schools?

Bush wants to secure his education legacy, but voters will elect someone other than him this fall. That governor deserves the same strong hand.

[Last modified June 28, 2006, 05:59:52]