The Florida Board of Education made a super choice in naming John Winn the new state commissioner. A former teacher and top aide to outgoing Commissioner Jim Horne, Winn was instrumental in crafting Florida's marquee school accountability measures, including the A+ Plan and the FCAT. Now he'll need all of his plentiful savvy and good humor to defend these reforms against critics and weed out the handful of hucksters who are exploiting Florida's voucher and charter systems for personal gain. He's up to it and we wish him well.
"Schools chief named swiftly," by Ron Matus, St. Petersburg Times, August 18, 2004
"Move forward," Orlando Sentinel, August 25, 2004 (registration required)