Senate committee backs five‑year principal leadership practicum; sponsor seeks funding

Chair West presented SP4 as a five‑year framework to train and retain school principals, explaining the Kentucky Department of Education would administer the first two years (intensive onboarding and mentorship), a third year would be an assimilation year, year four would be a public‑private off‑site program (Chamber/Truist partnership), and year five would require principals to choose training from an approved list of high‑level providers.

"The first two years are taken care of by KDE," Chair West said, describing a KDE‑run principal 101 and mentorship program. He said the bill is a framework "to organize that into a clear, concise system" rather than a complete operational plan.

Ashley Watts, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce (testifying for the Kentucky Chamber Foundation), told the committee the Foundation has run a Leadership Institute since 2011, has sent roughly 641 principals from 112 counties through the program, and that private businesses have invested about $4.4 million to date. Watts said the Foundation currently trains 40–50 principals a year and that with private fundraising (~$864,000/year) plus a proposed state match (about $1.8 million), the program could scale to train about 150 principals annually.

Henderson County Superintendent Dr. Bob Lawson described improved outcomes where principals trained by the institute "were outperforming schools with leaders who had not been through that leadership institute," and called the program "life changing" for participants.

Committee members asked how the program would handle superintendent preparation, whether the program would cover every new principal, and who would bear costs in the third year; sponsors said year three mirrors current practice and KDE will develop details, and the Chamber said it believes the program can scale to reach more principals. Chair West told the committee he plans to seek appropriations to support KDE's component and noted KDE estimated about $2,250,000 for years one and two.

The committee adopted a small technical substitute (changing an organizational name to Kentucky Chamber Foundation) and, after questions and discussion, voted unanimously to report SP4 with a favorable recommendation.