The State Board of Education will submit a list of candidates for education secretary to Governor Phil Scott next week.
Chairman Stephan Morse says Scott asked the board to extend an earlier deadline because potential applicants didn't know it was the state board that did the first round of interviews.
"Apparently people were inquiring directly from him about the job, and not understanding the process and the role of the board," Morse says. "So we thought it was only fair to extend it."
The original deadline was set at Dec. 14, but the board pushed that forward to Jan. 10
Up until 2013 the state board selected a leader for the education department.
But the Legislature changed that, and it's now up to the governor to appoint an education secretary from a list passed on from the State Board of Education.
"We take our role in this assignment very seriously," says Morse. "We're vetting the candidates. We're interviewing them. And hopefully we'll be able to come back to the full board next Tuesday with at least three candidates."
Morse says he's received interest from around the country, but most of the applications came from within Vermont.
A search committee will interview candidates Friday, and the board meets Tuesday to finalize the list before submitting it to Scott.
The law says the state board must recommend at least three candidates.
The new Secretary of Education is expected to begin on March 1.
