Homegrown education commissioner to replace Huffman?

photo Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman

Possible education chief candidates from Tennessee:• Deputy Tennessee Education Commissioner Kathleen Airhart• Stephen Smith, assistant commissioner of policy and legislation at the Tennessee Department of Education• Lyle Ailshie, director of schools of Kingsport City Schools• Jim McIntyre, director of schools of Knox County Schools• Jamie Woodson, president and CEO of the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education• Candice McQueen, senior vice president of Lipscomb University and dean of its College of Education

After three and a half years of division, fights and big changes that put Tennessee in the national spotlight for public education, a push has emerged for an education commissioner who is homegrown to replace the departing Kevin Huffman.

Finding a Tennessean for the high-profile job could also be ideal politically for Gov. Bill Haslam -- particularly as he kicks off a public process to review and likely tweak the state's Common Core academic standards into a Tennessee-branded version.

Representatives from both of Tennessee's main teacher advocacy groups, who have clashed routinely with Huffman, say they want a successor who comes from the public school ranks -- a clear knock at Huffman who came from the nonprofit Teach For America. They also contend that a Tennessean would be best positioned to take the torch.

But perhaps more telling of the momentum for an in-state replacement is the position of some Republican legislative leaders after Huffman's Thursday announcement that he will step down.

Read more at the Tennessean.

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