The board members met in late March with the National Association of State Boards of Education. The national organization is helping the board conduct a nationwide search for the next commissioner. Former commissioner Bob Corkins resigned last November after some conservative members of the board lost their re-election campaigns. That changed the board majority from conservative to moderate.

For the moment, the identities of the five candidates is hush-hush. Board vice-chair and Wichita’s representative Carol Rupe said that the board read all the applications that were presented to them by the search firm but she couldn’t give out any of the candidate’s names. “I don’t know if that’s public information yet,” she said.

All five candidates will be interviewed April 26.