APNewsBreak: Fla. education commissioner to resign
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's education commissioner will resign amid allegations that he changed the grade of a charter school run by a major Republican donor during his previous job as Indiana's school chief, a state education official said Thursday.
Tony Bennett will resign in the wake of the scandal surrounding Christel House Academy, the official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet authorized for public release.
Bennett, when reached by the AP, would say only that "no decisions have been made at this point." He has denied any wrongdoing.
Emails published by the AP this week show Bennett and his Indiana staff scrambled last fall to ensure Christel DeHaan's school received an "A," despite poor 10th-grade algebra scores that initially earned it a "C."
Bennett lost his re-election bid last November in Indiana. He was hired by Florida as its education commissioner, a non-elected post, in December.
Indiana uses the A-F grades to determine which schools get taken over by the state and whether students seeking state-funded vouchers to attend private school need to first spend a year in public school. They also help determine how much state funding schools receive. A low grade also can detract from a neighborhood and drive homebuyers elsewhere.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/apnewsbreak-fla-education-commissioner-resign