Bob Corkins, whose hiring as the state’s commissioner of education is expected to be ratified Tuesday by the Kansas State Board of Education, wants his first official act to be hiring someone to help him learn about his new job.

Corkins has no experience in the field of education, but he has a friend who does, and he would like the state board to approve spending up to $15,000 to pay his friend to “coordinate the transitional team,” as he takes over his new job. The contract would be with Daniel Harden, an education professor at Washburn University, one of the finalists for the commissioner’s job and a good friend of conservative Board President Steve Abrams.

It’s understandable, and perhaps even laudable, that Corkins is seeking some help in getting a handle on his new job. But wouldn’t the sensible thing be to sit down and talk with key staff members within the Department of Education and learn about what they do? It’s uncertain what kind of “transition” Corkins envisions, but his effort to bring in reinforcements, like Harden, may raise concerns that he wants to “transition” some key department officials out the door or at least force them to make major changes in the way they do business.

The $140,000 salary the board is expected to offer to Corkins is a sizable increase from what he was earning in his previous job. If the new education commissioner needs some remedial assistance to help him learn his new job, it seems only fair that the state board subtract that helper’s salary from what the commissioner was slated to earn.