News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup

The Kentucky board of education has promoted Gene Wilhoit, one of the state's three deputy education commissioners, to the state's top schools post.

Mr. Wilhoit was Arkansas' chief state school officer for the four years before he came to the Kentucky education department in 1997. The Kentucky board named the 57-year-old deputy commissioner for learning support services to the commissioner's job on Sept. 8, after two days of deliberating over three finalists.

Mr. Wilhoit will be the third commissioner since passage of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act, which completely overhauled the state education system and set student-achievement goals for local schools. Wilmer S. Cody, the most recent chief, left...