Education Commissioner out

Eric Smith, Commissioner of Florida's Department of Education, will resign in June. Smith says his resignation will “allow our newly elected Governor to have input ... on the type of leader to pursue his goals for education.”

Gov. Charlie Crist appointed Smith in 2007 to run the state's education system. He has supported compensation reform for Florida's teachers by tying pay to test score performance, and he opposed multi-year contracts.

But the state's education department could be working with a much smaller budget in its next fiscal year: Gov. Rick Scott has proposed $1.75 billion in cuts to the department's next budget.