FRANKFORT, Ky. - School superintendent contracts, benefit packages, and evaluations will be available to the public online under recommendations supported by Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday and state Auditor Adam Edelen.
Edelen’s office has uncovered abuse of power at multiple school districts in recent months.
“When you conduct four investigations, in three of which you find significant failings ... clearly it calls for new safeguards in place to make sure that this kind of abuse can’t and is less likely to occur anywhere.”
The superintendents of Fayette County, Mason County, and Dayton Independent Schools were on hand for Thursday's announcement.
Local school boards made up of elected members are in charge of hiring superintendents, but education officials say many are left in the dark about fiscal matters.
Commissioner Holliday says stricter standards will be required for annual evaluations and school board training. Board members will also receive training on best practices for developing superintendent contracts.
“There are a lot of districts who have good templates, but as you know there are a lot of districts who don’t have any templates. They write contracts, as we found through these audits, on napkins and paper towels. So we’re going to stop that practice,” said Hiren Desai, Associate Commissioner of Administration for the Dept. of Education.
Officials say the more information that’s made public, the better administrators and elected representatives can be held accountable.
