TALLAHASSEE Fla.

Former Colorado Education Commissioner William Moloney is a semifinalists for the education commissioner's job in Florida.

The State Board of Education narrowed its list of 29 applicants down to seven on Tuesday.

They will be invited for interviews during a Sept. 17-18 meeting in Tampa before the board selects the finalists.

Moloney, a champion of standardized tests who often clashed with lawmakers and unionized teachers, resigned this year.

He said he left because of the changing political climate after Democrats expanded their hold on state government including the election of Democrat Bill Ritter as governor.

Other candidates include Cheri Pierson Yecke, who oversees Florida's elementary and secondary schools; her predecessor, Jim Warford, executive director of the Florida Association of School Administrators; Earl Lennard, an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa; Joseph Marinelli, a district superintendent in Newark, N.Y.; Eric Smith, a senior vice president with the College Board in New York City; and William Harner, deputy to the chief executive office of Philadelphia's school district.

On the Net:

Florida Department of Education: http://www.fldoe.org


- Associated Press

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