The Ventura County Board of Education will soon get some help finding someone to replace Superintendent Charles Weis.

Weis plans to leave in June for a job as Santa Clara County schools superintendent, and the Ventura County board likely will appoint someone to serve out his elected term, which ends in 2010.

Trustees received proposals from six search firms, hearing from representatives at two separate meetings. They decided Wednesday to hire consultant Glen Thomas of Sacramento.

Thomas, who has helped other counties search for superintendents, is a former executive director of the California County Superintendents Educational Service Association.

Trustee Marty Bates said Wednesday that he thought Thomas could best "customize a search" to fit the board's needs. He also said he thought Thomas' experience working with county superintendents in California would help him find qualified candidates.

In a letter to the board, Thomas wrote, "I would be willing to serve as a consultant to the board, and to handle as much of the county superintendent application and screening process as the board desires."

Trustees agreed to pay Thomas $150 an hour for his work. In his proposal, Thomas said he also would bill the county office for the cost of clerical support, postage and advertising with total costs not to exceed a proposal submitted by the California School Boards Association, about $25,000.

Several employees were in the audience at Wednesday's meeting, including Chris Meagher, president of the county office's teachers union. He has asked the board to forego an outside search, saying there are qualified candidates within the organization.

Those candidates would not need time to get up to speed on county operations and, by appointing someone from within the office, the board would save money, Meagher said, which could be better spent on programs benefitting students.

Board President Chris Valenzano said Wednesday that the money that would be used to pay Thomas was not taken from other programs. Also, he said, employees had not stepped forward asking for more funding before the superintendent search was brought up.

No date was set for when Thomas and the board would meet to discuss the search process. The board's next regularly scheduled meeting is set for June 11, but trustees could call an earlier special meeting to discuss the issue.

In his proposal to the board, Thomas said that he would work with the board to move quickly, if that is its intention. But to name a county superintendent by July 1, he wrote, deadlines would have to be set right away.