SHAREYOURTHOUGHTS: Are superintendents destined to fail?

NINE OUT OF 10 urban school superintendents say they need more authority to fix bad schools and boost student achievement, according to a survey of the superintendents of the nation's 100 largest districts.

"The consensus of urban school superintendents is that many of their job conditions set them up to fail," said Howard Fuller, a former Milwaukee superintendent and one of the authors of the study by the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education.

Reader Charles Mas from Seattle, writes:

The survey is no doubt accurate. Of course, which of us wouldn't say that we could do our job better if we had more authority and less interference from our bosses?

Here in Seattle the Superintendent was given broad powers including the authority to create new schools, hire and fire principals, and make changes in programs. I don't see any micromanagement from the Board here. I don't see macro management from the Seattle School Board, I don't see any management from the Seattle School Board. Nor do I see the Board developing the budget, setting educational goals, ensuring accountability for results, assessing the superintendent's performance and planning for his or her succession.

It is true that School District Superintendents, even in Seattle, are constricted by union contracts that dictate which teachers have jobs and which don't. But we can't subject teachers to market forces unless we're willing to pay them market salaries.

And I don't see anyone in Olympia suggesting that we raise taxes to pay teachers more money. In fact, we saw just the opposite this year—they pointedly refused to pay teachers more money (as mandated by the voters) just to avoid raising taxes.

This points out how superintendents are constricted by state financing of public education. Seattle can't decide to tax ourselves more to provide money for our schools because the state limits local education levies to maintain parity between districts.

Is it a hard job? Undoubtedly. Is it impossible? No way. But whoever has it has to be honest about what they can do and what they can't do, and they have to be honest about the restrictions that keep them from fulfilling their mandate—not by whining, but by making a case for change.

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