Richard Corcoran

Richard Corcoran was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to be Florida’s commissioner of education in 2018 and served until May 2022. Corcoran fought side-by-side with the governor during the pandemic to reopen—and keep open—schools and eliminate mask mandates for children. He also worked with the governor to improve public education by abolishing Common Core, expanding civics instruction, and ensuring parental rights were respected in classrooms. Prior to serving as education commissioner, Corcoran was speaker of the Florida House from 2016 until 2018, when he attempted a run for governor and competed for the conservative lane with Gov. DeSantis. When Gov. DeSantis won the nomination, he invited Corcoran to co-chair his transition team, and the two became allies. In January 2023, Corcoran was chosen to serve as the interim president of New College of Florida by the college’s Board of Trustees, many of whom had recently been chosen by Gov. DeSantis to return the institution to its roots of teaching students how, not what, to think. An attorney, Corcoran lives in Sarasota, Florida with his wife, Anne, and their six children.