A Paragon of Virtue Still Toils

School Administrator, Feb, 1994 by Nick Penning

The process of selecting a school district superintendent seems, by its very nature, to draw the attention of all citizens in a community.

Yet when faced with selecting the best candidates for election to Congress and the White House, citizens seem unwilling to scrutinize character and previous experience.

The bottom line in most of these races comes down to who can outspend and outpromise the other candidate or make the opponent look so bad-through questionable accusations--that voters end up casting ballots for the lesser of two evils.

Thankfully, those motivations have stayed out of most school board selections of superintendents. But AASA's members are one step away from the local politics, creating a genuine politics of education.

The trick for superintendents is how to keep the board happy and watch after the education and welfare of the young people of the community.

Above Reproach

Politicians can and do make outrageous statements-campaign proclamations such as "I support Senator Eagleton 1,000 percent," or "Read my lips, no new taxes." Anything to win the job qualifies a candidate or his or her media and polling advisers to say or do anything they please.

In the school administrative profession, real stature and demonstrated success-unrelated to TV images or whistle-stop tours-are the career anchors sought by local school communities in need of effective district leadership.

Unfortunately, politicians can and do use AASA members in petty and serious ways to achieve their ends. They may care not one whit about your career or the teachers, parents, and youngsters you serve; their only goal is to win. It's discouraging and disgusting, leaves a district's reputation tarnished, and perhaps fatally harms the goals you have set for the system.

Politics doesn't have to be that way. We at AASA know a member of the House of Representatives who takes not a dime of campaign contributions and whose name is above reproach. He is Rep. William H. Natcher, who has represented western Kentucky for more than 40 years. He cares deeply not only about his reputation--he has never missed a House roll call vote in all his 40 years-but about the nation's public schools. You can always count on him to be there for children and families in need.

As chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Natcher holds one of the most powerful positions on Capitol Hill. He also chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. All federal funds flowing from Washington to local schools (except for school lunch program funds), come by way of Natcher's subcommittee.

He knows politics and can read the political "tea leaves" that surround the elective process. His chief staff member for education told a number of us from the Committee for Education Funding (a 20-year-old coalition to which AASA belongs) that fiscal year 1994, the money year that began Oct. 1, would not be "a banner year" for education.

Public Respect

In the end, of course, he was right on target. The Clinton administration tried to push through an economic investment package with nearly $1 billion in new money for education, but the Republicans in the Senate stopped him dead in his tracks.

Now we're singing the same old refrain: "This is going to be a tough year."

We in the education community are grateful for William Natcher. We wish there were more like him in Congress-legislators dedicated to their constituents (not the powerful with money) and devoted to the well-being of children and their education.

That's a platform you'd think all self-respecting politicians could run on, if they have respect for the public who's doing the voting.