HB 2050, sponsored by Rep. Dwight Scharnhorst, R-St. Louis, is sponsored by the top officials on the GOP side, Speaker of the House Steve Tilley and Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones, as well as Rep. Scott Dieckhaus, Education Committee chairman and sponsor of several measures targeting public schools, and Rep. Doug Funderburk, R-St. Peters.
The bill begins with the following provision:
The office of superintendent of schools shall become an elective office as of the opening date of the candidate filing period for school board elections scheduled for calendar year 2013. Any person who holds a valid contract as superintendent or who is appointed as an interim superintendent as of the opening date of the candidate filing period for school board elections scheduled for calendar year 2013 shall, unless elected to the office of the superintendent as provided in sections 162.102 to 162.104, forfeit the office as of noon on July 1, 2013.
The bill would also curb the salaries of superintendents as follows:
2. A superintendent elected under sections 162.102 to 162.104 shall take office at noon on July first and shall serve a term of three years or until his or her successor takes office. 3. Any vacancy occurring in the office of superintendent shall be filled by a person appointed by a majority of the members of the board of education. The person appointed shall hold office until the next municipal election, when a superintendent shall be elected for the unexpired term. 162.104. The board of education of the district shall set the salary of the superintendent of schools on the following basis: (1) In a school district that has had an average daily attendance of three hundred fifty or less for three of the last four school years, the salary for the superintendent shall not exceed one hundred ten percent of the average salary of the district's certificated staff; or (2) In a school district that has had an average daily attendance of more than three hundred fifty for three of the last four school years, the salary for the superintendent shall not be less than sixty percent and shall not exceed one hundred twenty percent of the average salary of the district's certificated staff.
As a Republican, I can't even begin to imagine how the collective stupidity of Tilley, Jones and Dieckhaus could come together at the same precise moment to introduce a bill that will disrupt the school systems throughout our state.
ReplyDeleteIf this is such a great idea, how have we been able to survive for 200+ years without it?
Here's how public education has worked best (with some probems from time to time). Voters elect school boards and determine the tax rates they are willing to pay. School boards hire administrators. Administrators hire teachers. Parents raise hell if Johnny or Susie don't make the ball team or cheerleader squad.
Don't screw with the system Tilley, Jones and Dieckhaus.