From the Office of Senator Kerry

Thursday, March 4, 1999

Washington, D.C. - Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA) today offered an amendment to S.280, the Education-Flexibility bill, that would provide funds to local schools for recruitment and training of effective principals. The Kerry amendment is supported by the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

"Look in almost every successful school, and you will find an effective principal" said Kerry today in debate on the Senate floor. "Across the country, educators tell me that providing quality professional development programs for principals is a simple, effective way to significantly improve our public schools. In the fight to fix our schools, we must start out by giving our generals in that battle -- our principals -- the tools to do the job of leadership."

The Kerry amendment would establish a grant program to states to allocate funds to local school districts to provide professional development for elementary and secondary school principals. Activities would include developing management and business skills, knowledge of effective instructional skills and practices, and learning about educational technology.

The program would be funded at $100 million per year for five years. States and local school districts would contribute 25 percent of this total, although the poorest school districts would be exempt from the match.

The amendment is part of the bi-partisan Comprehensive School Improvement and Accountability Act of 1999 that Kerry and Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) will introduce next week. The legislation empowers states and local school districts to implement comprehensive reform, ensure that children begin school ready to learn, facilitate vital partnerships between teachers, administrators, parents and communities and expand public school choice.

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