SD Bill On Principal Evaluations Goes Forward (SD)

January 28, 2011

A panel of South Dakota lawmakers supported a plan Wednesday to require annual evaluations of school principals with standards set out by the state.

The House Education Committee cleared a bill that would direct the state Board of Education to issue minimum guidelines for evaluating principals. The bill comes after a successful push last year to institute mandatory evaluations for teachers.

"If the principal does not provide the leadership at the top, there is less likelihood there will be overall success at the school," said Rep. Jacqueline Sly, R-Rapid City, who introduced the bill.

The committee voted 9-5 to approve the bill, sending it to the House for a vote.

Supporters of the bill didn’t say what specific guidelines they wanted to establish. Instead, the measure calls for a committee of 22 people _ including principals, administrators, parents and school group officials _ to come up with recommendations for the Board of Education.

The bill would require annual inspections that are based on state standards and lead to programs that "increase professional growth and development." Sly, a retired teacher, did not offer an estimate on how much the bill would cost, but said it would be funded by recer tification fees the state collects from educators.

Sandra Waltman, a lobbyist for the South Dakota Education Association, said the bill was meant to help principals, not punish them.

"By establishing standards, professionals in education then know what is expected of them," Waltman said. "Ultimately, that drives instruction, improves instruction and helps student achievement."

Others from education groups balked at the idea. Dick Tieszen, who represented the Sioux Falls School District, said he thought local schools deserved to hold evaluations on their own. Tieszen said the legislature was headed in a "dangerous direction."

"We think very much this is about local control," he said. "Our school district has an appropriate evaluation of principals now."

Interim Education Secretary Melody Schopp said the state had not finished compiling information on how many school districts already perform annual evaluations of principals.

Rep. Roger Hunt, R-Brandon, opposed the bill after saying he wanted more information about the final standards.

"Why not get the parameters together and then come in with legislation, so we can clearly see what we’re trying to do here," he said.

Sly responded that educators, not legislators, should decide the final guidelines. "I do not believe that the legislature should be creating a model evaluation tool," she said.

Others raised concerns that the committee to discuss the evaluations was too big. "Certainly if a group of 22 is t oo big, a group of 105 is even bigger if you’re trying to develop standards," said Rep. Tad Perry, R-Fort Pierre, referring to the total size of the legislature.

The committee also rejected a proposal from Republican Rep. Scott Munsterman of Brookings to pave the way for small school districts to share superintendents, business managers and other personnel.

Munsterman said his plan would allow small schools to stay open and save money by splitting administrative costs. But officials from the Department of Education and school groups were all opposed to the idea. Several people who spoke said superintendents in smaller districts often carry other job duties besides administration.

"We have superintendents in most schools that are teaching classes, that are athletic directors, that are tech directors, that are special (education) directors, that are curriculum directors," said John Pedersen, executive director of School Administrators for South Dakota.

Munsterman, who lost to Gov. Dennis Daugaard in last year’s Republican primary for governor, was lauded by several members of the committee for proposing the bill. But it failed, 13-1.

But committee chairman Rep. Thomas Brunner, R-Nisland, said he thought small school districts might eventually have to consider some form of consolidation given cuts in state aid. "They need to get some guts and do this," Brunner said near the end of the hearing.