As attention swirls around efforts to turn around persistently struggling schools, Florida lawmakers want to give some principals more money, extra training and more operational freedom to improve their schools’ performance.
Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, a former school administrator, has repeatedly pushed legislation that would give principals in traditional public schools some of the same autonomy enjoyed by charter schools.
This year, he’s morphed the proposal into a new approach for turning around low-performing schools, especially in large urban districts.
Under the principal-autonomy pilot program in HB 287, school districts could select highly rated principals to take over schools with a string of “D” or “F” ratings.
The principals could receive special training from the University of Virginia, and up to $10,000 in extra money. Districts would need to give them “increased fiscal and administrative autonomy” and more freedom under state regulations. In return, the schools would need to set performance targets.
Diaz referred to unspecified media reports, which he said show that when academic struggles persist, schools “can’t continue to do the same thing over and over again.”
A recent series of articles in the Tampa Bay Times revealed turmoil at five resegregated schools in South St. Petersburg, which has drawn the attention of federal education officials.
“There’s obviously schools that have tried many things but have not been able to turn around, and it’s not just one community that was highlighted, it’s in different communities across the state,” Diaz said. “Why don’t we attack … that problem?”
Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said it might take extra money to draw principals from high-performing schools to struggling ones. He sponsored an amendment that would allow the Legislature to earmark money for salary supplements.
The House K-12 subcommittee approved the measure with bipartisan support. Rep. Larry Lee, D-Port St. Lucie, said he wanted to make sure parents were involved in setting districts’ turnaround plans.
“Many times in education, we see things that aren’t working, and we keep doing the same things over and over and over,” he said. “We know the definition of insanity, and that’s basically what it is.”
