Gov. Mike Easley's key education adviser, J.B. Buxton, will take over management of the Department of Public Instruction after the State Board of Education voted Thursday to name him deputy state superintendent.

The job wields more authority and commands a bigger salary than that of the elected superintendent, an office Buxton failed to win in 2004, finishing third of three candidates in the Democratic primary.

But under an awkward relationship between the state board and Superintendent June Atkinson, who won the 2004 election, Buxton will supervise the department statewide. Despite her title as superintendent, Atkinson has no legal authority to run the agency that oversees the state's 2,288 public schools.

Instead, that power falls to the board, which can cede control to the superintendent. The elected superintendent only holds as much power as the board chooses to give. The last superintendent, Mike Ward, enjoyed broad authority. But members of the board, appointed by Easley, have given little control to Atkinson.

The deputy superintendent answers directly to the state board. Buxton succeeds current deputy Janice Davis on Feb. 1 and will be paid $140,000 a year. Atkinson's annual salary is $115,289.

Buxton, 36, has been Easley's education adviser for much of the governor's six years in office. He was previously a lobbyist for the state board, education policy director for the N.C. Public School Forum and an education adviser in the Clinton White House.

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