Colorado Teacher of the Year Sean Wybrant, who works at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, has been tapped to help select members of a new “teacher cabinet” forming at the state level.

Wybrant, a career and technical education teacher at Palmer, in Colorado Springs School District 11, will be among those deciding the composition of the 15-member Commissioner’s Teacher Cabinet.

Colorado Education Commissioner Katy Anthes has called for the new advisory group, which will serve as a “sounding board” for state education policy and brainstorm solutions for improving student achievement, supporting low-performing schools and increasing the number of new teachers.

“The way new laws and policies are implemented can have profound impacts on educators and their students, and I’ve long thought the department needed a more systematic way to gather ideas from our educators,” Anthes said in a news release.

Members will represent small, medium, large, rural, suburban and urban school systems from around the state.

The cabinet will create a better way for teachers to “provide feedback on what policy decisions are going to look like before those policy decisions are made,” Wybrant said, adding, “No one knows better what goes on in the school than teachers.”

Having a cross-section of teachers from different disciplines around the state collect information from their communities and report back to the education commissioner will prove to be a more effective method of soliciting input, instead of simply getting random feedback, he said.

“All of us are pressed for time – I’ve got seven classes this semester and four clubs – and teachers need a better way to tell their stories,” Wybrant said.

He said he’s encouraged that education seems to be more of a priority at the state level, with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper referencing education in this year’s state-of-the-state address, and the education commissioner’s desire to have more of the “teacher voice” as indications.

“All of that bodes really well for the next couple of years in education,” said Wybrant, who was selected out of 48,000 teachers statewide for this year’s Teacher of the Year award. “If we can create sustainable systems for feedback from the people working in the field, we’ll have a much better school system going forward.”

In addition to Anthes and Wybrant, a diverse committee including “external stakeholders” will select the cabinet members.

Applications are being accepted through May 5 for the inaugural 2017-2018 school year cabinet.

To be considered, educators must have at least three years of experience in the classroom and must submit an application, resume and two letters of recommendation to the CDE.

Selected educators will serve a two-year term beginning in August.

For more information, go to http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdecomm/teachercabinet.