LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The chairwoman of the House Education Committee said Tuesday that there are not enough votes on her panel to pass legislation giving school superintendents power to hire principals instead of school-based councils.
Rep. Regina Huff, R-Williamsburg, said many on the education committee worry that Senate Bill 3, sponsored by Republican Sen. John Schickel of Union, would give too much power to one person and could usher the return of political patronage and nepotism to the hiring practices of rural school districts in Kentucky. "When the superintendent has had such control, it has been quite political," Huff said.
"I really don’t see (SB 3) moving through our committee," she told WDRB News. "It doesn’t have the support needed."
School-based decision making, or SBDM, councils have been in place since sweeping education reforms passed the General Assembly in 1990, and the effort to strip SBDM councils of their authority to hire principals has gained more traction this year. SB 3 quickly passed the Senate on a 23-13 vote Jan. 11 during the opening week of this year’s session, but it has languished in the House in the two weeks since lawmakers returned to Frankfort Feb. 5.
The legislation has split education-centric groups, with the Kentucky Education Association opposing the measure and organizations representing school boards and superintendents supporting it. Huff said a number of lawmakers on the House Education Committee were endorsed by KEA in the Nov. 6 elections.
Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio has said he supports the concept of giving superintendents control of hiring principals, and Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis and the Kentucky Board of Education included it in their legislative priorities ahead of this year’s session.
Schickel, the bill's sponsor, said he hopes to reach a resolution that allows SB 3 to advance past the House Education Committee.
But the one aspect of the legislation that isn't negotiable for Schickel may ultimately doom the measure.
"The principal selection piece of it, for me, is non-negotiable because that is really the main purpose of the bill," Schickel told WDRB News, noting that he would file a similar bill again next year if SB 3 fails this year. "I am flexible on everything else."
Huff said she would be open to considering a bill that would allow superintendents to vote in principal-hiring decisions, but not complete control of the process.
"I think the superintendent has to be the one that owns the performance of the principals, so he should have some input," Huff said, adding that she appreciates the intent of SB 3. "But to be given the sole position, especially for rural districts, it kind of makes it look like a step backwards in terms of nepotism and things such as that."
While SB 3 seems destined to fail in this year's legislative session, prospects for a separate bill that deals solely with JCPS are less certain.
Senate Bill 250, filed Friday by Senate Majority Caucus Chair Julie Raque Adams of Louisville, would give JCPS superintendents the option of hiring principals without input from SBDM councils, strip JCPS administrators of tenure and give Pollio power to approve contracts worth up to $50,000 without school board approval.
Huff predicted that some on the House Education Committee would be concerned with removing tenure from administrators, but they still might be inclined to support SB 250 given some of the issues that have faced JCPS in recent years.
The school district, the state's largest, avoided a takeover by the Kentucky Department of Education last year and agreed to make significant changes in several areas by the 2020-21 school year.
"I haven’t discussed it with them (committee members)," Huff said. "… But I think they would be more open to that urban area just because of the climate and the problems that Jefferson County has faced."
Reach reporter Kevin Wheatley at 502-585-0838 and kwheatley@wdrb.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevinWheatleyKY.
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