Principal Hiring Change Reconsidered in House Ed Cmte

Bill to give superintendents more say in principal hiring fails

This from KSBA:

The House Education Committee failed Tuesday morning to pass an amended version of the principal hiring bill that would have given superintendents a stronger role in the selection of building principals.

One version of House Bill 322 passed the committee Feb. 9 but was recommitted after strenuous objections by the Kentucky Education Association. ... Discussion among the committee members became acrimonious over the negotiations between Feb. 9 and today. KEA President Sharon Oxendine testified against the bill at the committee hearing...

More from KSBA:

Legislative unhappiness over negotiation process a big factor in defeat of principal hiring bill Measure to give superintendents a more signficant role now faces uncertain future

Amid questions about whether school groups and legislative proponents had negotiated in good faith, the House Education Committee Tuesday morning defeated a measure that would have given Kentucky superintendents more say in the selection of school principals...

“I see compromise made by the superintendents. This bill offers fairness in that the superintendent needs to be at the table and have a voice,” said Rep. Jeff Greer of Brandenburg. Greer, a former Meade County school board member, repeatedly asked if there had been compromise by KEA representatives in the negotiations since the measure’s original passage out of the committee.

Committee Chairman Carl Rollins said, “All parties worked in good faith. KEA did not want any limit on the number of applicants that could be reviewed. That was a stopping point. We’ve had several meetings trying to negotiate this bill (but) you get to a place where you have to have a solution if you want to have a bill.”

Rep. Harry Moberly of Richmond countered that KEA “was more conciliatory than I’ve ever seen. Nothing could be further from the truth that only superintendents made compromises. I think KEA has accommodated very much in this. Now we have this committee substitute that’s a sort of a jumble. I know we can do better than this.”

A major point of debate among the legislators was over the fact that after an initial meeting of education groups on both sides to seek a compromise, negotiations then took the form of suggested amendments passed back and forth between the groups by Rollins and the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Kent Stevens of Lawrenceburg, a retired principal, and Rep. Wilson Stone of Scottsville, a former Allen County school board member and KSBA president....