HOUSE BILL REPORT
HB 1256
As Reported by House Committee On:
Education
Title: An act relating to educational service districts' superintendent review committees.
Brief Description: Regarding educational service districts' superintendent review committees.
Sponsors: Representatives Cox, Haigh, Fromhold, Schoesler and Hunt.
Brief History:
Committee Activity:
Education: 1/31/01, 2/15/01 [DPS].
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Brief Summary of Substitute Bill
$Revises the process governing the selection of educational service district (ESD) superintendents by permitting ESD directors to help screen candidates and by expanding the number of candidates that the board might consider.
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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 14 members: Representatives Quall, Democratic Co‑Chair; Talcott, Republican Co‑Chair; Anderson, Republican Vice Chair; Haigh, Democratic Vice Chair; Cox, Ericksen, Keiser, McDermott, Pearson, Rockefeller, Santos, Schindler, D. Schmidt and Schual‑Berke.
Staff: Susan Morrissey (786‑7111).
Background:
The governing boards of educational service districts (ESDs) must nominate and select their superintendents through a process described in law. First, a superintendent review committee must be formed. The committee is composed of three people, two school district superintendents selected by the ESD board and one representative of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), selected by OSPI. The two school district superintendents must be selected from within the ESD.
The superintendent review committee is required to screen all candidates for ESD superintendent and nominate to the board a list of three of the candidates. The ESD board must select one of the three candidates or reject all three and request a new list of three candidates. The process is repeated until a candidate is selected.
Summary of Substitute Bill:
The process governing the selection of ESD superintendents is revised. The superintendent review committee is expanded to include a subcommittee of the ESD board. The review committee will screen candidates against a set of established qualifications and will recommend to the board a list of three or more candidates for the position. The board must either select the superintendent from the list presented by the review committee, ask the review committee to add additional names to the list, or reject the list and ask the committee to submit a new list. The board shall repeat the process until a superintendent is selected.
Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:
The lists of possible superintendent candidates will have three or more names. The board may ask the review committee to add additional names to the list or may reject the list and start again.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Not Requested.
Effective Date of Substitute Bill: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Testimony For: The current process for hiring ESD superintendents is cumbersome and convoluted. The ESD boards of directors are not permitted to screen candidates. That job is left to an independent review panel that reviews candidates and forwards three names to the board. At times one or two of the candidates have withdrawn by the time the board receives the list, so the pool of candidates is even smaller. The board cannot ask for additional names, it must reject the entire list and begin again. This legislation would correct those problems. It will allow board members to help screen candidates. It will also allow the review committee to submit more than three names to the board. Finally, it will allow the board to ask to see an expanded list of candidates if necessary. It would remove procedural shackles from the board while preserving regional involvement in the hiring process.
Testimony Against: None
Testified: (In support) Representative Cox, prime sponsor; Doyle Winter, Washington Association of School Administrators; Terry Munther, Educational Service District 101; Ken Kanikeberg, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction; and Terry Lindquist, Puget Sound Educational Service District.