The Spokane School Board made a smart move this week when it decided not to rush into the selection of a new superintendent to replace Brian Benzel.

Benzel, who became superintendent in 2001, plans to retire this summer. Trying to find a replacement with the right qualifications to run the state’s second largest school district could not be done confidently in that time frame. So the board will look for someone in the region, possibly someone in the district, to assume control during a transitional period.

That’s a sound strategy, as far as it goes.

The board hasn’t yet announced whether it will conduct a national search, though, and that is a must.

Five superintendents have guided the Spokane School District over the past 40 years with mixed success. The one who arguably proved to be the most successful and effective of the lot, Kansan Gary Livingston, is also the only one who had no background in the Spokane area or elsewhere in Washington state.

School Board President Christie Querna noted the value of having an interim superintendent who has experience with Washington state’s distinctive funding and testing processes. But when it comes to Benzel’s permanent successor, the concerns shift. A grasp of state and local school practices can be picked up.

A search confined to the Inland Northwest or Washington state would deny the community the richest pool of candidates. And it would lessen chances of a fresh perspective to size up the challenges facing Spokane schools. New eyes often see opportunities that have been overlooked and problems that have been ignored.

The school board hasn’t said whether the interim superintendent might also be considered as an applicant for the permanent appointment. There’s no compelling reason against it, but it shouldn’t give anyone an advantage either. The board simply must not let personal friendships and loyalties distract it from the merits of a national process.

Meanwhile, three seats on the five-member board will be up for election this fall. Picking a new superintendent right away would have left potentially a majority of next year’s school board working with a superintendent they had no hand in choosing. Relying on an interim superintendent in the short run allows the election to precede the search rather than the other way around.

With such a substantial decision looming, the superintendent search might even breathe some excitement into the usually lackluster school board elections. It might attract both candidates and voters who normally would pay little attention.

In fact, a vigorous school board campaign ought to produce a communitywide discussion about what Spokane wants from its schools and new superintendent. Once in place, the new board could then launch its search with a clear set of measurable expectations that the board and the community could both use to assess the new superintendent’s performance down the road. That, in turn, would strengthen accountability.

An aggressive national search for the best candidate, accompanied by a clear list of expectations for the appointee, offers Spokane the best hopes for solid educational leadership in coming years.