TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) — With Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran stepping down on the finish of the month, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday beneficial Republican state Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. as Corcoran’s substitute.
Corcoran, a Republican former House speaker, introduced final month that he’ll “return to private life” when his resignation takes impact on the finish of April. Corcoran was appointed as commissioner in 2018 shortly earlier than DeSantis took workplace.
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In his time as commissioner, Corcoran has served as a high ally of DeSantis on contentious training points. For occasion, Corcoran was instrumental in finishing up DeSantis’ directives to cease college districts from implementing masks mandates in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and to stop vital race principle in school rooms.
Diaz equally has helped perform DeSantis’ training agenda within the Senate.
“Manny Diaz has done a great job in the Legislature on education issues ranging from teacher pay to parental rights and choice. I am confident that he will serve our state well as the commissioner of education,” DeSantis mentioned in a press release saying the advice.
Diaz must be formally appointed by the State Board of Education, which is made up of DeSantis appointees. The board is scheduled to satisfy May 11.
Diaz, a Hialeah Republican, was elected to the Senate in 2018 after serving within the House for six years. He has held posts corresponding to chairman of the Senate Education Committee and the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee.
Diaz additionally has sponsored high-profile training payments, together with two measures in the course of the 2022 legislative session that have been high priorities of DeSantis.
One of these measures (HB 7) would prohibit how race-related points could be taught in faculties and in office coaching.
Part of the invoice pertaining to public-schools, for instance, seeks to stop instruction that might trigger college students to really feel “guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress” due to previous actions by members of the identical race, intercourse or nationwide origin.
The invoice was dubbed by DeSantis the “Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act,” or Stop WOKE Act. It has not formally been despatched to DeSantis for his signature.
A news launch from the governor’s workplace about DeSantis’ suggestion of Diaz touted the measure as “eliminating CRT (critical race theory) and woke training in Florida schools and businesses.”
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Diaz is a former classroom instructor who works as an administrator for Doral College, a personal college that is part of Miami-based constitution college firm Academica.
“For my entire career I have worked to improve the education system to serve Florida’s students, parents and teachers. I am excited to get to work continuing the mission of the governor to make Florida the Education State,” Diaz mentioned in a press release Thursday.
A vocal proponent of constitution faculties, Diaz additionally has been a driving power behind the enlargement of school-voucher applications.
During the 2019 legislative session, Diaz sponsored a measure that was signed by DeSantis to create the Family Empowerment Scholarship voucher program. The program considerably expanded eligibility standards for school-voucher recipients.
Diaz additionally has shepherded higher-education laws.
DeSantis this week signed a Diaz-sponsored invoice coping with higher-education accreditation and the method of reviewing college professors’ tenure.
The invoice (SB 7044) will power faculties and universities to alter accreditors on the finish of every accreditation cycle, which may last as long as 10 years. It additionally authorizes the state college system’s Board of Governors to undertake a regulation requiring college professors to bear a “comprehensive post-tenure review” each 5 years.
Opponents of the brand new regulation, together with the United Faculty of Florida, argued that particular person faculties have already got processes to assessment school tenure.
Diaz would turn into the primary Hispanic training commissioner in Florida, in response to the Department of Education.
Corcoran has often clashed with lecturers’ unions. But Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, appeared to specific optimism Thursday about Diaz entering into the job.
“While we may not always agree, FEA looks forward to working with the new commissioner toward a common goal — making our public schools the strongest in the nation. To ensure that every child gets the education they need, we must address our massive shortage of teachers and staff,” Spar mentioned in a tweet.
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