Eleazer Root (March 6, 1802 – July 25, 1887) was an American educator and Episcopalian priest from New York, who moved to Wisconsin as a young man and spent much of his career and adult life there.
He served a term in the Wisconsin Assembly and was appointed as the first Superintendent of Public Instruction.
[1][2] Because of his health, in his last years he moved to St. Augustine, Florida, serving as rector of Trinity Parish from 1874 to 1884.
[4] Largely unchanged to this day, Article X provides for a uniform system of public schools, creates the elected office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to supervise public instruction in every school district, establishes a state university at the seat of government, and prescribes principal and restricted uses to Wisconsin's school trust funds.
He also served as superintendent of schools in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin.