Retired high school principal Darrel Galera resigned from the state Board of Education today and said he plans to apply for the superintendent job the board is seeking to fill.

Galera spent over 30 years with the Department of Education, including 13 years as principal of Moanalua High School, before retiring at the end of 2013.

Ige appointed Galera to the school board in October to fill a vacancy. The governor also tapped Galera last year to lead a 19-member advisory team tasked with developing a “blueprint” to overhaul the state’s public school system.

Before being named to the Board of Education, Galera had been an outspoken critic of Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, whose term ends June 30. In 2014 he criticized the department’s leadership after a survey of more than 100 principals showed discontent with the state’s centralized system of governance and the time required for new teacher and principal evaluations.

“It is essential that the BOE’s search/selection committee be presented with as large a pool of experienced, qualified and committed applicants as possible, as it makes one of the most important decisions for the future of public education in Hawaii,” Galera said in a news release issued today by the governor’s office.

Despite receiving positive annual performance evaluations, the board announced last year that Matayoshi’s contract would not be renewed. The board’s chairman said at the time that the state has an opportunity to move public education in a new direction, citing a revised strategic plan and changes under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

Under a search process the board adopted last year, a search committee made up of three BOE members will solicit applications until April and recommend at least two finalists to the full board in May for action in June.