Politics Gums Up Search for Vermont Schools Chief

By Jeanne Ponessa

The growing role of politics has led the Vermont state school board to suspend its search for a new commissioner of education. And the position may become even more political before it is filled.

Before it goes any further, the board will wait to learn the fate of a controversial bill that recently won approval in the Senate. The measure would shift the primary responsibility for selecting and reviewing the commissioner from the board to Gov. Howard Dean, a Democrat.

"We thought that for whoever came up [as a candidate], it would be much better to know what the lay of the land was," said Sally Sugarman, the chairwoman...