Legislature’s bright idea leaves public in the dark

Viewpoints

July 26, 2010

Jim Waters Director of Policy and Communications for the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions The Richmond Register Mon Jul 26, 2010, 01:01 PM EDT

RICHMOND — Sometimes well-intended legislation can have unintended consequences.

Take Senate Bill 178, which passed during this year’s legislative session. It allows local school boards to conduct the most crucial portions of superintendent evaluations in closed sessions.

Legislators who support the bill tell me it’s about striking a balance between the public’s right to know and honest discussions by school board members of a superintendent’s performance.

Bill sponsor Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, asks:

“Do we want to have an open public evaluation that is done in a dishonest way — where candid and frank discussions are not held, which is what currently is going on up until this legislation passed — or do we want to have preliminary discussions that can be candid and frank on both sides of that conversation?”

Public access comes with differences, said Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown. He voted for Givens’s bill — even though he has led the charge for more transparency in state government in recent years.

“There’s a difference in putting the government’s checkbook online and dealing with certain personnel issues,” Thayer said. “This is a personnel matter that has plenty of transparency throughout the process.”

However, by the time this process becomes transparent in an open session, it also becomes one of consensus, which effectively disguises any concerns individual board members raised in the closed session. Those issues remain unknown.

“We’re not talking about an individual teacher here,” said Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green. “We’re talking about the head of the school district, and if an elected board member has an issue with a superintendent, the parents sending their children to a school in that district have a right to know what it is.”

The Kentucky School Boards Association, which consistently underwhelms me by failing to fulfill its substantial potential to push reform of the commonwealth’s education system, wanted this bill. It claims that boards need to speak as a group, rather than having all that uncomfortable input from individual members publicly discussed.

But school board members are elected and must — arguably as their most important job — evaluate superintendents, school districts’ chief executive officers.

If boards do a significant portion of their most important work in secret, how does that serve the public, whose taxes fund their districts, including some enormously high superintendents’ salaries?

It doesn’t allow voters to determine whether board members represent their interests. And it denies challengers for board seats information needed to effectively confront incompetent incumbents.

Perhaps legislators thought this policy would somehow improve the education system. But signs already show it does the opposite.

For example, even though school boards in Jefferson and Christian counties jumped at the chance to hold their superintendent evaluations in secret on July 15 — the day the law went into effect — we still don’t know the plans for improvement in these poor-performing districts.

A majority of schools in both districts failed to meet their 2008-09 “No Child Left Behind Act” goals. Plus, a majority of their high school students performed below proficiency in math, science, social studies and writing during that school year.

Perhaps we need legislation that requires each district to set annual, measurable goals indicating continuous improvement. We could then base superintendents’ evaluations — and future employment — on whether those metrics are met.

The whole process would change from one that hides the performance of nervous school board members behind closed doors to a transparent, objective process that allows voters to determine if boards and superintendents are doing their most important job — ensuring our kids get the education they need.

Jim Waters is vice president of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky’s free-market think tank. Reach him at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com. Read previously published columns at www.bipps.org.

Text Only

Viewpoints

Education a focus in Senate this week
FRANKFORT — The Senate passed several bills this week. Of these bills, three education bills are of particular importance.

February 5, 2012 1 Photo
Redistricting ruling offers collateral benefits for voters and taxpayers
Slowing down Frankfort’s redistricting march offers collateral benefits for voters and taxpayers.

February 4, 2012 1 Photo
In defense of southern-fried Paula Deen
Celebrity chef Paula Deen lustily massages salt into "a mighty fat hog,” as the dogs circle the cooking island. For the yams, “I’m only using half a stick of butter,” she drawls before breaking into high laughter. Deen’s popular Food Network show does southern cooking with no brakes on the pork fat, butter, sugar or other dietarily incorrect ingredients.

February 1, 2012 1 Photo
GOP makes Obama look good
The Republican field debated for the 19th time Thursday night, and once again, the media promised us it was going to be a “make or break” event.
Don’t believe the media.

January 30, 2012 1 Photo
The real State of the Union
Has Barack Obama learned nothing in three years?
During his State of the Union address Tuesday night, he promised “a blueprint for an economy.”
But economies are crushed by blueprints.

January 26, 2012 1 Photo
Looks ain’t everything
I guess we can blame it on television or the movies, that looks are so important in America, especially to young folks. These two mediums place such a premium on beautiful, shapely women and handsome men that most young people believe if you do not possess these attributes you are nothing.

January 25, 2012 1 Photo
It’s politics as usual
FRANKFORT – I’m betting that if you’ve followed the redistricting contortions birthed by the Democratic controlled House and Republican controlled Senate, you’re hardly shocked.

January 22, 2012 1 Photo
Cherry picking and charter schools
National School Choice Week is Jan. 22-28.
There’s little to celebrate in Kentucky – one of only nine states without a charter-school law.

January 21, 2012 1 Photo
House knee-deep in important issues
Last week was filled with impassioned and sometimes heated discussions about redistricting as we struggled to meet the constitutional mandate to redraw boundary lines based upon U.S. census data.

January 18, 2012 1 Photo
Senate considers budgetary, drug issues
The second week of session saw several significant issues begin to be debated in committees. Drug abuse, weaknesses in child-protective services, and the state’s debt level were all topics of discussion. The committee process is intended to inform the legislators of the pros and cons of each bill. Lively debate accompanied each piece of legislation.

January 17, 2012 1 Photo
More Viewpoints Headlines

Viewpoints

Search Results

Legislature’s bright idea leaves public in the dark

Have you ever attended a meeting of a local government agency or taxing district?

Site Map