It isn’t easy finding someone to criticize Eric Smith.

Even the most ardent critics of the direction Florida is taking on education, with increased emphasis on test score data and expansions of voucher programs, charter and virtual schools, hold back when it comes to Smith.

Florida’s popular education commissioner, whose last day on the job was Friday, has earned accolades from a wide spectrum of education stakeholders during his four years in office.

“Considering the political environment in Florida, he has done very well,” said Andy Ford, the head of the Florida Education Association. “The politics of this state will not allow anybody to do the job fully.”

Smith appeased the tough-to-please school boards and school administrators, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and even earned the begrudging respect of the teachers’ unions and pro-public school groups, which have vehemently opposed policies that Smith supported.

One of the few people who may not have been impressed is Gov. Rick Scott. When Smith announced his resignation in March, it was noted that Scott had not met with Smith since becoming governor, sending the signal that Smith may not have been welcome in the new administration. The governor has indirect influence over selecting the education commissioner by appointing members of the State Board of Education, which hires the commissioner.

A short three-sentence statement by Scott in March said only: “On behalf of the state of Florida, I thank him for his years of dedicated service.” That stood in marked contrast to the long goodbye he got on the floor of the Florida Senate in May, with floor speeches by Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, and Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, extolling his work as commissioner during a time of major changes to the education landscape in Florida.

“What we are doing is cutting-edge stuff,” Wise said in an interview this week. “When it comes to making systemic changes to the way we evaluate teachers, principals and how we think the students ought to perform, Eric Smith was instrumental in making that happen.”

Wise was critical of the governor’s alleged treatment of Smith.

“I don’t know who talked to the governor, but it sure wasn’t Eric,” Wise said.

Smith is leaving his job after four years at the helm of the Department of Education. Hired during Gov. Charlie Crist’s administration, Smith oversaw a department in the midst of implementing major reforms. He helped raise the standards for statewide tests and curriculum, ushered in a major change to how teachers are evaluated and paid, tying salaries to test scores for the first time, and a push toward more virtual classes and online test-taking.

Smith declined to be interviewed for this story. A spokesman said Smith wanted to keep everyone’s “focus squarely on the future, including the transition to new leadership here at the Department.”

But education stakeholders who worked closely with him over the last four years describe a commissioner whose greatest strength was his steady hand, staying calm in times of crisis and working to bring the often-fractious education community together. Educators say a clear example of this was when the unions, teachers, parents and other education administrators worked to develop a plan that won $700 million in Race to the Top grants.

“He worked with us as much as politically he felt he could,” Ford said.

Sen. Montford, who is also president of the Florida Association of School District Superintendents, said Smith made it a priority to communicate frequently with superintendents and school boards. “Does that mean we always agreed? No. With as many controversial issues we faced during his tenure, one would expect to have differences of opinion and those differences became clear,” Montford said. “But at the same time, it was done in a very, very respectful manner. I never saw the commissioner lose his temper or lose control.”