Education Commissioner William Moloney announced Thursday he is stepping down after 10 years as the state's top school executive amid indications he wasn't welcome in Gov. Bill Ritter's administration.

Moloney, who is departing June 30, said he has felt for more than a year that a "new era" was coming with the election of a new governor and legislature in November. In recent years, Moloney has come under fire from Democrats, who have accused him of failing to provide leadership for the state's school system.

Superintendents statewide last year issued a statement decrying a lack of leadership in education, but stopped short of singling out Moloney. The following month, the chairs of the House and Senate education committees called on Moloney to leave.

Moloney chalked up the opposition to the unpopularity of the testing and accountability programs he was asked to administer.

"The only great leaders who are never criticized are those who have been dead a long, long time," he said. "I'm not dead yet."

The education commissioner, hired by the Colorado Board of Education, is also a member of the governor's Cabinet.

Ritter has twice given public hints that he was unhappy with Moloney. On Tuesday, Moloney was left off the guest list as Ritter signed a major education bill.

Moloney, a lifelong Democrat, said those incidents were not the cause of his departure.

"The governor thanks Commissioner Moloney for his many years of service to the state . . . and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors," Ritter's spokesman, Evan Dreyer, said Thursday.

Others were more pointed.

"I'm pleased with the commissioner making that decision," said Rep. Michael Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, chairman of the House Education Committee.

"We can now find someone who can really provide some inspiration and work on creating a partnership with K-12, rather than the adversarial relationship that took place during Moloney's tenure."

Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, said, "I think it's a terrific opportunity for the state of Colorado now to hire a truly innovative, creative, forward-thinking leader to help with our task of moving Colorado forward."

Pamela Jo Suckla, the board chairwoman and a Republican, praised Moloney, saying his service to children has been "impeccable."

Achievements

• Oversaw the expansion of Colorado's statewide achievement testing from one fourth-grade reading exam in 1997 to an annual battery of tests in reading, writing, math and science in grades three through 10.

• Implemented the system of "school report cards" that translate the test scores into an assessment of each of the state's more than 1,700 schools.

• Pressed the state's teacher training programs to place more emphasis on research-based strategies to help students who can't read.

• Was part of a movement to focus resources as early as possible on students who are falling behind in reading, instead of waiting until they are many grade levels behind their peers.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5339112,00.html

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