Senate approves appointed school superintendents

A bill to eliminate elected school superintendents passed the Senate on Thursday and is now headed to the House of Representatives.

The bill, which would change the 55 elected superintendent positions in the state to appointed positions beginning next term, passed by a vote of 40-9.

Several members expressed the need for another bill that requires all school board members to be elected. Currently, municipal school districts have school board members appointed by the mayor.

Senate Education Committee Chariman and the bill's author Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, assured the senators that the 55 school districts this bill would affect already have elected school boards, so there wouldn’t be a situation where both the superintendent and the school board are appointed.

“I want to support this with the understanding that I will vociferously argue against it if we do not bring forward the elected school boards,” Sen. Michael Watson, R-Pascagoula, told Tollison. “People have to have a link to making change.”

Supporters of appointed superintendents say it allows for districts to consider a wider pool of candidates to find the best fit. Elected superintendents are required to live in the district where they are running.

Current elected superintendents would serve out their terms should the bill become law.

"There is a reason that most of the nation has decided to appoint superintendents rather than elect them — because it works," Gov. Phil Bryant said after the vote. "Expanding the pool of candidates beyond a school district's boundaries and removing politics from the office will better serve students, parents and teachers."

Bryant said he is encouraging the House to pass the bill as well.

Sen. Videt Carmichael, R-Meridian, voted for the bill but questioned during the discussion on the floor whether there is data to prove that appointed districts in Mississippi do better than elected.

Tollison said he didn't have that data but that seven of the 10 school districts that have come under state control in the past 10 years have been school districts with elected leaders.

Legislative leaders have been pushing for the change, which comes up nearly every year. Similar bills have passed the Senate and died in the House in recent sessions.

Contact Kate Royals at (601) 360-4619 or kroyals@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @KRRoyals on Twitter. 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this list identified Sen. J.P. Wilemon, Jr., as a Republican. He is a Democrat.

How they voted

Senators voting against the bill:

Sen. Angela Burks Hill, R-Picayune

Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville

Sen. J.P. Wilemon, Jr., D-Belmont

Sen. Chris Massey, R-Nesbit

Sen. Barbara Blackmon, D-Canton

Sen. Nickey Browning, R-Pontotoc 

Sen. Bill Stone, D-Holly Springs

Sen. Russell Jolly, D-Houston