Posted on: Sunday, February 9, 2003

EDITORIAL
School leaders should not be part of union

There is legitimate history behind the fact that school principals in Hawai'i belong to a union.

There was a time when principals were not unionized, and a pattern of patronage and favoritism was obvious. Whether you got a higher-salaried administrative post often depended on who you knew down at the Capitol.

Clearly, the unionization of principals has led to greater professionalism and a far more evenhanded system of promotion and assignment.

But yesterday is not today. It is time to take our public school principals out of their union, put them on performance-based contracts and pay them higher wages appropriate to their executive responsibilities.

There is abundant research to show that a strong, committed and effective principal is almost always the key to a successful school. While we have many such principals in today's system, there is no reason why every school should not have such leadership.

Unionization, with its seniority, transfer and other rules, works against this goal.

Several bills at the Legislature this year that would remove principals from their union appear to be stalled. Union officials say they are worried about loss of collective bargaining protections and are concerned that giving principals new responsibility for performance without accompanying authority would be counterproductive.

They have a point. If principals are going to be put on a pay-for-performance contract, they must be given the authority and autonomy to run their schools as they see fit. There is more than one path to success.

But a system of well-paid, performance-measured principals, coupled with substantial autonomy and authority to make their own decisions, could lead to dynamic changes in our public schools.

The move to give more decision-making authority to individual schools is already under way. Combine that with newly empowered top administrators at these schools and you have cooked up a recipe for success.