Mixed Bag on SB 2149: A Step Towards Accountability, but Representative Perkins Guts Key Part of Bill with Amendment

Senate Bill 2149 passed the house today after being amended. With the vote still unavailable as of this post, I have no way of telling you the details of either tally. If you are a supporter of public education, the news is a mixed bag. On one hand there lies a victory for accountability. Local school boards will now be able to remove underperforming superintendents after a period of two years. One the other hand, they will not have the ability to choose the most qualified candidate to fill the role. A special election would be held. The superintendent removed would be barred from running for reelection for a period of four years.

Coming out of committee in the House, SB 2149 was exactly what the Mississippi Department of Education, the very people charged with improving our public schools, supported. However there was an amendment proposed that absolutely gutted the intended effect of the bill. As I noted on Cotton Mouth here and here, Mississippi must eliminate elected superintendents. Out of 17,000 superintendents, only 165 are elected. Of those 165 districts, 65 are in Mississippi.

The amendment changed the bill from the version that came out of committee in a key area. Before the amendment, the superintendent position would be appointed in the case of a board removal due to underperformance. The amendment struck this from the bill and replaced it with language allowing for the return to the standard electoral means of choosing a superintendent, after the expiration of the original term of the removed superintendent. Basically the board of trustees would get to remove an underperforming superintendent, but would not get to choose the replacement.

This does provide a measure of accountability, but it does not address a key problem. The position of superintendent is a professional position, and needs to be filled by the most qualified candidate. The field does not need to be narrowed to the residents of the electoral district. Why “hire within” when your schools have been chronically underperforming?

The really pathetic part of this whole story is who proposed the amendment. Representative Willie Perkins, a Democrat from Leflore County, did a tremendous disservice to the children of Leflore County, the delta, and Mississippi with his shortsighted amendment. His amendment helps to preserve a failed system that has long been abandoned by the rest of the country. He should listen to the Mississippi Department of Education, and leaders like Nancy Loome and Hank Bounds. We need to listen to our leaders in education when they make proposals to improve the worst schools in Mississippi.

The bill now heads back to Senate, where it could be passed as is, or if not sent to conference. We will keep you posted...