SENATE BILL REPORT
SHB 1256
As Reported By Senate Committee On:
Education, March 21, 2001
Title: An act relating to educational service districts' superintendent review committees.
Brief Description: Regarding educational service districts' superintendent review committees.
Sponsors: By House Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Cox, Haigh, Fromhold, Schoesler and Hunt).
Brief History:
Committee Activity: Education: 3/15/01, 3/21/01 [DP].
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Majority Report: Do pass.
Signed by Senators McAuliffe, Chair; Eide, Vice Chair; Carlson, Finkbeiner, Hewitt, Johnson, Kastama, Kohl‑Welles and Rasmussen.
Staff: Susan Mielke (786‑7422)
Background: Educational service districts (ESDs) are regional entities which provide educational services and assistance to districts and state educational agencies. The current nine ESDs are governed by a board elected by school board members of the local districts within each of the ESD's boundaries. To hire the ESD superintendent, the ESD board must first establish a superintendent review committee to screen the applicants and recommend a list of three candidates to the ESD board. The ESD board must then either select the new superintendent from the list or reject the entire list and repeat the process until a new superintendent is selected. Currently, the superintendent review board is made up of two school district superintendents from within the ESD and a representative of the state Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Summary of Bill: The process for selecting an ESD superintendent is changed. The superintendent review committee is expanded to include a subcommittee of the ESD board. The review committee must screen the candidates against a set of established qualifications and recommend to the board a list of three or more candidates for the position. The board must select the superintendent from the list presented by the review committee, ask for additional names to consider, or ask for a new list of three or more from which to choose.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Not requested.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Testimony For: Currently the ESD directors cannot screen the applicants for ESD superintendent. The ESD board should be represented in the screening process. Limiting the list to three finalists needlessly limits the choices of the board. It is the ESD board that is responsible and is held accountable for choosing the ESD superintendent. The board should have a greater voice in the process.
Testimony Against: None.
Testified: Representative Cox, prime sponsor; Norm Wisner, WASA and AESD.