UF alum chosen as Florida's Commissioner of Education

Eric Smith, a UF College of Education alumnus known for his reform efforts as a superintendent in North Carolina, has been selected to fill the highest post in Florida’s school system.

The Florida Board of Education voted on Oct. 5 to offer Smith the post of Commissioner of Education, the top administrator for Florida schools. Details of the hire have yet to be finalized, DOE officials say.

A 1984 Ed.D. graduate of the College of Education, Smith was most recently a vice president for the College Board, the New York-based nonprofit which oversees the administration of the SAT and other college entrance exams.

Smith previously has worked as a superintendent in Anne Arundel County in Maryland and in Charlotte-Mecklenberg Schools in North Carolina. In both systems, he acquired a reputation as a hard-charging and sometimes controversial school reformer.

Smith’s work has also been covered widely in the press. He was one of the subjects of the PBS documentary Making Schools Work (you can read the transcript here). His selection for the commissioner position was covered in a number of newspapers including the Tallahassee Democrat, the Palm Beach Post and the Baltimore Sun.

Before selecting Smith, the board had narrowed the field to three finalists, including one other COE alumnus – 1967 graduate Joseph Marinelli, who oversees 25 school districts in four counties in New York.