News and Music Discovery
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Kentucky is seeking its next commissioner of education

 The Kentucky Department of Education building in Frankfort.
KDE
The Kentucky Department of Education building in Frankfort.

Applications are open for Kentucky’s next commissioner of education. The state is seeking to fill the position after the departure of Jason Glass.

The Kentucky Board of Education is on the hunt for the state’s next top education official.

The board posted the job opening for Kentucky commissioner of education online Monday, with the help of McPherson & Jacobson, an executive search firm.

According to the job listing, the board is looking for candidates who have knowledge of Kentucky’s public school system and experience as a “student-focused educator” with an “understanding of the challenges and opportunities our state presents.”

Applications are open through Feb. 16. The board is hoping to have a new commissioner in place by July 1.

The job listing says recruiters plan to narrow down the search pool to finalists by early March and conduct final interviews March 18-19.

The position opened when former Commissioner Jason Glass stepped down in the middle of his contract over disagreements with the GOP-led Kentucky Legislature and new anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

Glass was the third commissioner since 2018 to leave amid political tumult.

Longtime Kentucky Department of Education employee Robin Fields Kinney is acting as interim commissioner.

The board’s pick will have to be confirmed by the state Senate, under a law passed this year.

Support for this story was provided in part by the Jewish Heritage Fund.

Copyright 2023 Louisville Public Media. To see more, visit Louisville Public Media.

Jess is LPM's Education and Learning Reporter. Jess has reported on K-12 education for public radio audiences for the past five years, from the swamps of Southeast Louisiana at WWNO, New Orleans Public Radio, to the mountains of North Carolina at WUNC in Chapel Hill. Her stories have aired on national programs and podcasts, including NPR's All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition, Here & Now and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. A Louisville native, Jess has her bachelor's degree from Centre College, and her masters in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Related Content