Added incentive — 12/15/09 » Editorials » Daily Independent (Ashland, KY)

Editorials

Discussion

December 14, 2009

Added incentive — 12/15/09

Superintendents would be held more accountable under bill

Anonymous The Daily Independent Mon Dec 14, 2009, 01:18 PM EST

Superintendents and school board members in districts with low-achieving schools could face removal under a proposal approved Thursday by the Kentucky Board of Education as part of the board’s legislative agenda for the 2010 General Assembly.

We agree that superintendents should be held more accountable for the performance of schools in their district. Although superintendents typically play only a minor role in the day-to-day operation of individual schools within a district, accountability should begin at the top. Just knowing they could be removed if students in schools in the district are consistently doing poorly on achievement tests could cause superintendents to take a more proactive role in solving academic problems within schools.

However, since the adoption of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, the elected members of a district’s board of education have had little or no direct role in the day-to-day operation of individual schools. By law, school members can have no role in the hiring and firing of principals and teachers and even members of their immediate families cannot be employed by the district. The only hiring decision board members make is that of the superintendent.

It would be unfair for school members to be removed from office because of the performance of individual schools. If anything, members of each school’s site-based council who are not part of the school staff should be held more accountable for a school’s performance than members of district boards of education. After all, unlike school board members, members of site-based councils do make hiring decisions that impact student performance.

Since KERA, it has become increasingly difficult to get strong candidates to run for boards of education. Holding school board members accountable for the poor performance of schools in which they have little direct role would be another disincentive for good people to serve on a school board.

Holding superintendents more accountable is one of the few proposals approved by the Kentucky Board of Education that would be considered revenue neutral — or at least nearly so. That greatly increases the chances of the proposal being seriously considered by the 2010 General Assembly.

However, two other legislative proposals endorsed by the state school board — one that would expand the state pre-school program to make some 16,000 more children eligible, and another that would raise the compulsory school attendance age from 16 to 18 — would increase costs. While there is merit to both proposals — particularly the one regarding early childhood education — with the state already having a difficult time balancing its budget, this is no time to be adding new programs. In fact, the best public schools can probably expect from legislators is to maintain funding at its current level.

The idea of forcing teens to remain in school until 18 is not a new one. While it could increase graduation rates, it also would likely mean schools would have to endure students who show little interest in learning and are discipline problems for another two years. Instead of forcing would-be drop outs to remain in school, a better approach would be finding a way to inspire them to actually learn while they are there.

Text Only

Editorials

Excellent idea
State Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, wants to do for Kentucky’s juvenile code what he was instrumental in helping do for the state’s criminal code. It’s an excellent idea.

February 11, 2012
Charles Chattin
Before it merged with Ashland Community College to form Ashland Community and Technical College as a result of the 1997 Higher Education Reform Act, the Ashland Area Vocational-Technical School compiled an impressive record for teaching job skills to young adults and placing more than 85 percent in jobs for which they were trained.

February 10, 2012
Try again
It is time for Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, to cease playing political games and redraw district lines that are compact and are based far more on population changes during the first decade of this century than on partisan politics.

February 9, 2012
'Asset poor'
More than one in four Kentucky households are “asset poor,” meaning that they are living from paycheck to paycheck with little or no financial cushion to fall back on should they suddenly lose their jobs or have another emergency resulting in a temporary loss of or delcine in income.

February 7, 2012
Safer mines
The head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says coal operators throughout the country are improving their operations and, as a result, mines are becoming safer. However, MSHA chief Joe Main said too many coal operators still “don’t get it” and are continuing to cut costs by ignoring safety. That’s why MSHA plans to continue targeting mines with a history of repeated violations for additional inspections.

February 7, 2012
Not far enough
For the past three sessions of the Kentucky General Assembly, bills that would raise the minimum dropout age from 16 to 18 have been approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives by wide bipartisan margins only to die in the Senate without even a vote.
Now the Senate Education Committee has unanimously approved a dropout bill hailed as an alternative to the House bill, but it does not go nearly far enough. It is a halfway measure that would have only a limited effect on preventing teenagers from quitting high school before graduation and virtually assuring themselves of lives on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.

February 6, 2012
Not their job
The local government committee of the Kentucky House of Representatives has wisely killed a bill — dubbed “Cooper’s Law” — that would have allowed the family of the Lexington toddler with cerebral palsy to have a playhouse on their property despite a deed restriction that apparently prohibits such structures.

February 6, 2012
Keeping FADE
Despite an increase in cost to the department, Carter County Sheriff Casey Brammell told the Carter County Fiscal Court that his department will continue to be active in the FIVCO Area Development Drug Enforcement (FADE) Task Force — at least for now.

February 4, 2012
Needed changes
The soaring enrollment that Kentucky’s community and technical colleges have experienced in recent years could come to a sudden end — or at least be slowed — as about 5,500 students in the statewide system that includes Ashalnd Community and Technical College are expected to lose their financial aid under new rules being implemented by the federal government.

February 3, 2012
Released early
While it is disappointing that 75 of the 952 prisoners granted early release in January have violated the terms of their releases, the good news is that none of the former inmates have been charged with new felonies. That’s an early, but positive, indication that the nonviolent felons released before their sentences were up have been carefully selected and are among those least likely to return to a life of crime.

February 2, 2012
More Editorials Headlines

Editorials

Search Results

Discussion

Added incentive — 12/15/09

Superintendents would be held more accountable under bill

Site Map

Contact Us