Committee narrows eligibility for principal stipend, adds assistant-principal language to Senate Bill 303

A state legislative education committee on Tuesday amended Senate Bill 303 to narrow which schools qualify for a principal stipend and to add assistant principals and certain alternative-administrator positions to the program, then gave the bill a favorable report.

The change responds to a federal redefinition of eligibility that committee members said expanded the pool of qualifying schools from roughly 300 to nearly every school. The amendment, provided by the state Department of Education, reduces that scope, restores a direct-certification standard and clarifies which administrator titles at standalone facilities (for example, some career-technical centers) will be treated as equivalent to principals for the stipend program.

Committee members said the bill preserves stipend amounts established earlier in the Principal Schools Act while narrowing eligibility. Under the provisions discussed, the base stipend remains $10,000 for qualifying principals and $5,000 for qualifying assistant principals; for schools identified as the “hardest-to-staff” the amounts discussed would be halved to $5,000 for principals and $2,500 for assistant principals. The sponsor said the original federal change expanded eligibility to as many as 1,200 of 1,500 schools; the bill aims to return eligibility to an earlier, smaller set (a target cited in committee discussion was closer to 300 schools).

The amendment was described to committee members as coming from the Department of Education to ensure the bill’s text matched the department’s implementation expectations after the federal definition changed last year. The amendment also explicitly includes administrators at standalone career-technical facilities or alternative schools (titles such as director or alternative administrator) when those positions perform the duties equivalent to a principal and are approved by the State Department of Education.

Members discussed how universal free-meal programs interact with the bill. Committee members noted that some districts provide free meals to all students; under the amended language that uses direct certification as a measure, schools that use universal free lunch or similar districtwide policies could lose eligibility under the direct-certification standard unless students’ families are directly certified for programs such as SNAP. Committee members said counties already maintain certification processes for other programs and that direct certification generally relies on families’ eligibility for federal benefits.

Several members asked about accountability and program requirements. Committee members and staff said the stipend is not automatic with a title; recipients must meet program conditions such as professional-development or certification goals and school-improvement targets established under the Principal Schools Act and its design team (described in the discussion as a “design” or “dream” team). The amendment’s language was intended to preserve those programmatic accountability measures while tightening eligibility criteria.

Procedural record: Representative Baker moved adoption of the Department-of-Education amendment; Representative Pasco seconded the motion. The committee adopted the amendment by voice vote. Representative Gray moved to report Senate Bill 303, as amended; Representative Gibley seconded. The committee gave the bill a favorable report.

The committee also noted that Lee Posey of the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) was visiting the committee that week and invited members to meet with her.

The committee did not record roll-call vote tallies in the transcript. The amendment and the final favorable report were both adopted by voice vote at the meeting.