SAVING EDUCATION: Principals as CEOS

By: Auren Hoffman

A few weeks ago, when Senator John Kerry (D-MA) was in San Francisco talking to a small group of Silicon Valley executives, he launched into an unexpected tirade: on teachers' unions and status-quo education.  

This was a real shocker.

Kerry is running for the Democrat nomination for president in 2004 -- a nomination where teachers' unions often make the difference in get-out-the-vote efforts. But here was Kerry telling a well-heeled Silicon Valley audience that he believes that all public-school principals should have the right to hire and fire the teachers in their school.

Essentially, Kerry proposed that all public schools be charter schools, with the principal acting as the CEO. The principal would ultimately be responsible for the overall performance of the school and how well the kids were learning -- and be bonused or fired depending on overall performance.

Having principals as real CEOs (with the power to act) isn't a new idea -- but perhaps now is the time to put the idea into action. Several well-funded non-profits are training the next generation of public school (including charter school) principals in management, logistics, motivation, and more.

One such non-profit is New Leaders for New Schools (http://www.nlns.org) run by Jon Schnur. NLNS has an intensive one-year training for just 15 leaders. At the end of the program, NLNS helps these leaders get jobs as principals or helps them start a charter school of their own.

It is possible that Kerry's statement was made only to curtail the increasing support for school choice, but his proposal is a step in the right direction. And it is important that it is coming from a Democrat (Republicans have been suggesting these sensible reforms for years). Kerry has Nixon-to-China opportunity to help better our national education.

SUMMATION: Let's see Kerry put his money where his mouth is and have the Senate pass another sweeping education ("Leave-no-Child Behind II") that gives incentives to states that reform their education systems to give principals greater leeway. The House will surely pass any bill like this.