Commissioner Chatter

Stu said No. Roger says maybe.

Board members met Saturday for a special meeting and decided they wanted a Kentuckian for the Commissioner's job. Fayette County schools Superintendent Stu Silberman is not interested in becoming state education commissioner, but Marion County Superintendent Roger Marcum said he would strongly consider it.

...Marcum, who is president of the state's superintendent association, said he was contacted during the first search but wasn't sure if he wanted to take on the task. But after watching the controversy with Erwin unfold, he's rethinking his stance.

"It just reaffirms to me that we've got some folks in Kentucky that are very capable of providing that kind of leadership," Marcum said. "I hope this time we find the right person."

Marcum also heads the Council for Better Education, a group representing most of the state's 175 school districts, which sued the legislature in 2003 for failing to adequately fund Kentucky schools. In February, a Franklin Circuit Court judge sided with the legislature. The CBE originally asked the case to go to trial, but recently dropped the lawsuit.

In addition to Silberman, Marcum suggested Warren County Superintendent Dale Brown and Blake Haselton, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, as noteworthy candidates.

This from the Herald-Leader.