State Education Chief Hopes to Lead Minneapolis Schools

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minneapolis School Board will interview two finalists Tuesday in the protracted hunt for the district's next superintendent.

An 11-member selection committee on Friday night named Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius and Ed Graff, a Minnesota native who's the superintendent of schools in Anchorage, Alaska, as the finalists. The committee interviewed five semifinalists from a pool of about 20 candidates last week.

After school visits and public comments, the board will meet May 27 to vote on filling a post that's been vacant since since Bernadeia Johnson resigned in December 2014.

This is the second time in six months that the board has been given a slate of finalists for the job. Over the winter, interim superintendent Michael Goar removed himself from consideration.

The job pays $190,000 a year.