1. Richard Michael Corcoran was born on March 16,1965 and is an American politician who was speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.
41 Facts About Richard Corcoran
1. 2.
From 2019 to 2022, Richard Corcoran was the state's education commissioner.
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Richard Corcoran's parents were both veterans of World War II.
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Richard Corcoran's father was an American soldier in the US Army and his mother, a daughter of a British tea-planter, served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force of the Royal Air Force during the London Blitz.
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Richard Corcoran later attended St Leo College, graduating in 1989, and Regent University School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1996.
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Richard Corcoran then worked as a legislative aide for his friend Paul Hawkes, representative in the Florida House from 1990 to 1994.
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Richard Corcoran ran the 1994 campaign that took Mike Fasano, later Majority leader and Senate President, to the Florida House for the first time.
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In 1998, Richard Corcoran ran and lost his first House race to Nancy Argenziano.
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Richard Corcoran was admitted to the Florida Bar on September 21,1999, three years after completing law school.
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Richard Corcoran worked as outside counsel for former House Speaker Tom Feeney in 2002.
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In 2006, Richard Corcoran worked for candidate Marco Rubio, where he was involved in writing and promoting Rubio's political tract 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future.
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Richard Corcoran resigned to prepare for a 2007 state Senate by-election but dropped out prior to the general election.
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Richard Corcoran was hired by future governor Rick Scott to do legal work for Solantic.
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When Richard Corcoran was chief aide to Marco Rubio, his spending of Republican Party of Florida funds drew scrutiny and spending on flights, hotels, and restaurants from party funds in 2015 and 2016 drew critics.
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Richard Corcoran rejected suggestions that the spending was excessive.
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When incumbent state representative Tom Anderson was unable to seek re-election due to term limits in 2010, Richard Corcoran ran to succeed him in the 45th District, which included parts of southern Pasco County and northern Pinellas County.
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Richard Corcoran's leading rival for the position was fellow freshman representative Matt Gaetz.
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Richard Corcoran faced a challenge from Strother Hammond in the Republican primary.
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Richard Corcoran was endorsed for re-election by The Tampa Tribune.
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Richard Corcoran was re-elected without opposition in both 2014 and 2016.
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Ultimately, Richard Corcoran endorsed Adam Putnam in the race, which was won by Ron DeSantis.
22.
On December 6,2018, Governor-elect of Florida Ron DeSantis announced he would nominate Richard Corcoran to be education commissioner.
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Richard Corcoran was unanimously confirmed as education commissioner by the Florida Board of Education on December 17,2018, and took office on January 8,2019, upon the effectiveness of the resignation of his predecessor, Pam Stewart.
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Richard Corcoran was appointed by a unanimous vote of the Florida Board of Education, which is appointed by the governor.
25.
Anne Richard Corcoran, who founded a classical liberal arts charter school because she believed in that model of education, was unpaid for her role.
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Richard Corcoran dismissed previous allegations that her husband has a conflict of interest, saying her family likely loses money for the unpaid time she dedicates to her charter school.
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Richard Corcoran's tenure was characterized by contentious relations with a number of school districts and superintendents.
28.
On July 7,2020, President Donald Trump tweeted "Schools must open in the fall", the same day that Richard Corcoran ordered all public and private brick-and-mortar schools to reopen in August for at least five days per week and provide a "full-array" of services.
29.
In May 2021, Corcoran submitted an application to succeed John E Thrasher as president of Florida State University, and the selection committee advanced him along with eight others for on campus interviews.
30.
In 2022, Richard Corcoran came under scrutiny when the DOE was shown to be in talks with MGT Consulting, a firm led by Richard Corcoran's longtime colleague Trey Traviesa, for some time before the bidding on a multimillion-dollar educational services contract was opened for a single week, a situation that appeared to allow the firm preferential access.
31.
One week prior to the bidding being opened, Richard Corcoran had hosted a closed-door meeting between Traviesa, Jefferson County school officials, and charter school lobbyist Ralph Arza.
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On May 1,2022, Richard Corcoran stepped down as education commissioner.
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Richard Corcoran is an advocate for charter school expansion and private school vouchers.
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Richard Corcoran's brother Michael Corcoran is a lobbyist for charter school management company, Accelerated Learning Solutions, and his wife Anne helped found a charter school for whom she acts as CEO.
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In 2017, Richard Corcoran passed his Schools of Hope bill, which funds new charter schools to open near public schools reporting weak results in standardized assessments.
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Richard Corcoran was paid a base salary of $699,000, which is $400,000 more than his predecessor made.
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At the time the interim appointment was announced, Richard Corcoran was still registered as a lobbyist for educational concerns, including Charter Schools USA, Polk County Public Schools, and the University of Miami, among three dozen clients whose relationship he had reaffirmed earlier that month.
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In October 2023, after being the New College of Florida's interim president for nine months, Richard Corcoran was named the school's president.
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Richard Corcoran is a lawyer with Nelson Mullins in Tallahassee.
40.
Richard Corcoran's brother is Michael Corcoran, a leading political and corporate lobbyist in Tallahassee and Tampa.
41.
Richard Corcoran's sister Jacqueline is a former Washington, DC, political operative and current lobbyist with Corcoran Partners.