KDE begins process to find new education commissioner

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) - The Kentucky Board of Education is starting the process to search for a new education commissioner.

In a special meeting Monday morning, the Board of Education discussed the search for Commissioner Glass’s replacement.

“We need a commissioner that’s going to make sure that they’re reaching out and talking to the public; that are talking to the educators; that are for lifting up the parents and the community to make sure that we’re building a public education system that’s going to meet all the needs of all of our students,” Kentucky Education Association President Eddie Campbell.

The board authorized the Department of Education to look for an executive search firm to search for candidates. The KDE says their goal is to begin working with the firm no later than December 1 this year.

In their 2020 search for a commissioner, it took roughly four months from the time a contract was signed with a firm to the announcement of Glass as commissioner.

GOP lawmakers and politicians have previously called for Commissioner Glass’ removal from the position.

We asked both Governor Beshear and Attorney General Daniel Cameron what they would like to see in the next commissioner.

Cameron said in part, “Candidates for Kentucky’s Education Commissioner must take a clear stand. Will they condemn Jason Glass’s comments that teachers concerned about radical ideology should just find another job?”

Beshear’s Office did not have a comment on Monday but referred us to these statements made after Glass announced his resignation:

It’s going to be much more challenging to find a good commissioner of education now my kids are in our public school system, and I want the very best for us, so I’m going to try to work through the damage that the attorney general and others have done here in our ability to recruit the very best.

An interim commissioner has not yet been announced. A spokesperson for KDE told us we can expect that announcement in early September.

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