Topeka ? The search has narrowed for a new state education commissioner, but officials Friday refused to say who is in the running.

State Board of Education Chairman Steve Abrams of Arkansas City said the names of candidates were being withheld for “privacy reasons.”

The Lawrence Journal-World requested the names under the Kansas Open Records Act, but the Kansas Department of Education refused.

The agency’s general counsel, Rodney Bieker, said the information did not have to be disclosed under the law “as it is personnel information that relates to a nonelected position in the Kansas State Department of Education. Thus, we will not disclose the names of these candidates.”

The position is being vacated by Andy Tompkins, who has served as commissioner since 1996, which is the longest tenure of any education commissioner in Kansas history.

Tompkins recently took a position as an associate professor in the Kansas University School of Education’s educational leadership program.

The commissioner has one of the most high-profile jobs in state government, guiding a department that oversees the Kansas public school system.

With the state in the middle of a school finance lawsuit, and the State Board of Education in the middle of a political battle between conservatives and moderates, the appointment process has fueled much speculation.

“Who we select as commissioner will be very important in the overall policy development of education,” Abrams said.

Earlier this week, a screening committee appointed by the education board narrowed a field of 12 applicants to four, and forwarded those four to the board for further examination, according to Kathy Toelkes, a spokeswoman with the Kansas Department of Education.

The references of those four will be checked and the board may start interviewing candidates next month with a goal of hiring a candidate by the end of June and starting that person Aug. 1, Toelkes said.

Despite the political storms swirling around the board, Abrams, a conservative Republican, said politics would not play a role in the selection of a new commissioner. Currently, conservatives hold a 6-4 majority on the board.

“I’m not going to ask the person whether they are conservative or liberal or Republican or Democrat,” Abrams said.

The board wants someone with a record of accomplishments and a vision for the improvement of education in Kansas, he said.

Abrams also said it was important to have someone who could help the board and Legislature “interact and get along with each other.”

Board member Bill Wagnon, a moderate Democrat from Topeka, whose district includes Lawrence, said the new commissioner would have to avoid politics and focus the board on “how we can improve schools.”

“This board is inclined to do all sorts of erratic things,” Wagnon said, such as the recent hearings on evolution, which he opposed. “Unless we find someone with strong knowledge of school policies, we might go over the edge,” he said.

Wagnon also would not reveal the names of candidates. But when asked whether former Republican congressman Vince Snowbarger, whose name has cropped up amid the speculation, was among the candidates forwarded to the board, Wagnon said no.

Last week, a rumor started that John Calvert, the attorney and proponent of intelligent design who put together the group of witnesses that criticized evolution, was a candidate. But he said he wasn’t.