Let KY superintendents hire principals

One of the oddities of education reform in Kentucky is that school superintendents don't get to hire principals. Instead, the power is vested with the school's site-based council. There were a lot of good reasons for this reform. Still, as the years have unfolded, it has become apparent this is one of the flaws in the site-based system that needs correcting.

At least it seems that way to me, maybe because I've been in hiring/firing leadership roles for more than 25 years now. I can't imagine having an outside committee tell me who I have to hire. If you can't trust your superintendent to hire good principals, you need to remove the superintendent. Nor can I imagine being the sole decision maker in any complicated organization, and schools certainly fit that definition. There is a role for the site-based council in principal hiring, but -- as the cliche goes -- the buck should stop at the superintendent's desk.

The Kentucky Senate has passed a bill that is a step in the right direction, although I don't think it goes far enough. It would give superintendents the right to fill principal vacancies, in consultation with the council, in schools that are in the "failing" designation based on Kentucky's system of school testing and performance

This should become law, and my bet is that it will work well enough to expand to all schools.