Talk to us: What do you want in Colorado’s next education chief?

On Friday, Colorado Education Commissioner Robert Hammond announced he’s stepping down on July 1.

That means the State Board of Education will be working to find his replacement.

As head of the Colorado Department of Education, the person who fills Hammond’s shoes will have be responsible for implementing education laws set by the federal and state government and rules established by the board. He or she will also manage a $5 billion budget and nearly 600 employees. The next education chief also will have to find his or her way through the often touchy subjects of education policy (testing, Common Core, funding).

That brings us to our question of the week: what characteristics should the next education chief have? 

Most weeks, we ask readers a question about a timely or timeless question about their experiences in education. Readers who want to share their opinions should leave a response in the comment section below, tweet us @ChalkbeatCO, send an email, or leave a comment on our Facebook wall. Every Friday we round up the responses.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported the state education department’s budget. It’s about $5 billion not $5 million. We regret the error.