Crist Considers Warford

Former Florida public schools chancellor Jim Warford lays into Jeb Bush.

Mr. Warford said former Gov. Bush's A-Plus Plus plan requiring eighth-graders to pick a major was "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" and would do little to solve the problems that keep so many high-schoolers from graduating.

He has criticized the state's "relentless focus on the FCAT" and said it is "intellectually indefensible" to take children out of public schools and put them into charter schools that have little oversight.

He lamented that Gov. Bush focused on the "low-hanging fruit" of improving standardized scores in elementary grades while skating over harder-to-fix problems in high schools.

Overall, Mr. Warford described Gov. Bush's view of education this way: "If your only tool is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail, and that's been their approach."

Charlie Crist is considering Warford for education commissioner. This is a strong sign Crist is moving away from Bush's education policies. Which explains why John Winn quit as education commissioner. Winn was picked for the job by Bush.

Crist's firing T. Willard Fair and Phil Handy from the Board of Education was another sign that Crist doesn't support Bush's education policies or appointees. The fact he is considering hiring someone so outspoken against Bush says much.