The Kentucky Senate has passed a bill to shift the authority for selecting school principals, a move detractors said would weaken the role of school-based decisionmaking councils created by the state’s landmark education law.
The measure would transfer that power away from the councils and give it to school superintendents. The councils would serve an advisory role in selecting principals.
Supporters of the bill say superintendents should have authority to choose principals since they shoulder so much of the responsibility for a district’s performance. Opponents said it would put too much power in the hands of superintendents and could revert to the pre-education reform era when family ties or friendships swayed the selection of some principals.
