Beshear taps former gov candidate for Board of Ed

Gov. Steve Beshear tapped former Republican governor candidate Billy Harper along with the father of former University of Kentucky basketball player Ravi Moss and three others to serve on the state Board of Education.

Harper, president and CEO of Harper Industries, Inc. in Paducah, finished third in the 2007 GOP gubernatorial primary. A long-time education advocate, Harper served earlier this decade on a key educational advisory group that made two dozen recommendations for the direction of the Kentucky public school systems.

He will serve as an at-large member of the board for a term that expires April 14, 2012. He replaces David Rhodes.

Others Beshear named to the education board are:

• Austin W. Moss of Hopkinsville. Moss will serve until April 14, 2010 and represents the 1st Supreme Court District. He replaces former board chairman Keith Travis, who resigned last month. Moss is vice president of human resources at Jennie Stuart Medical Center and is the father of former UK walk-on Ravi Moss.

• Stephen B. Neal of Louisville. Neal, the executive director of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, will serve through April 14, 2012 as an at-large member. He replaces Bonnie Lash Freeman, whose term expired.

• Dorothy "Dorie" Z. Combs of Richmond. Combs, an education professor at Eastern Kentucky University, will serve through April 14, 2012. She previously served on the board from June 2002 to April 2006 and will serve as an at-large member replacing Janna Vice, whose term expired.

• Brigitte B. Ramsey of Falmouth. Ramsey, a public policy analyst for the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, will serve as an at-large member through April 14, 2012. She currently serves on the Pendleton County Board of Education. She replaces David Webb, whose term expired.

The 12-member board is charged with setting the governing regulations of the 174 public school districts across the state.

- Ryan Alessi