Alabama’s school principals could receive as much as a $15,000 stipend during the coming school year if they show they are boosting student outcomes.

The new program is the result of a 2023 law that is now taking effect. It aims to help principals improve their strategy and management in ways that lead to results for students.

The state has 1,450 public school principals. According to data on the state’s 2023 federal report card, one in three principals statewide had two or fewer years of experience in the job.

“That measure is a part of why [the program] is needed,” said Vic Wilson, who leads the state’s association for school leaders. He supports the program.

Alabama lawmakers passed the School Principal Leadership and Mentoring Act in 2023. Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said he sponsored the bill to help not only increase pay but also to build a strong pipeline for principals and school leaders.

The first big foundational piece is to build a new set of standards that define what an effective principal is expected to know and do. The Alabama Board of Education, which is responsible for approving those standards, considered a draft set of standards at their work session on Thursday in Montgomery.

“The old standards weren’t bad,” Alabama Superintendent Eric Mackey said, “but they were not up to date. So if we’re going to pay people a $10,000 stipend, we want to make sure they are doing the most current work.”

Gov. Kay Ivey has proposed and lawmakers are expected to approve $30 million for the requirements and stipends in the FY25 education budget.

The new standards reflect the changing role of principals and assistant principals, Wilson said. “We’re revisiting everything that we do. And we’re going to try to do things better.”

The draft standards, developed by Alabama education leaders and teachers, are centered around five areas where effective principals are expected to show leadership:

• Vision, defined as the ability to develop and implement a shared vision that guides student learning,
• Instruction, which means the leader oversees a rigorous curriculum that drives student growth and achievement,
• Managerial and operational, meaning they oversee school operations, staff and resources to have a safe school community,
• Relationships, meaning they cultivate a supportive and collaborative learning environment for students, families, teachers and the greater community, and
• Innovation, meaning they constantly seek new and better ways to improve professional and student learning.

The board will begin officially accepting public comment on the draft standards after the March board meeting, Mackey said, and that feedback will be considered in the final set of standards the board will vote on in May.

Even though the standards have not yet been approved, one piece of the program is already underway, Mackey said.

Every year, principals develop their professional learning plan, Wilson said. This year, principals were expected to have two specific goals in place: One goal must be related to students’ academic achievement or growth or both, and one goal must be related to the school’s culture and climate.

Culture and climate are extremely important for achievement to happen, Wilson said. “When you’ve got a place where kids are comfortable coming to school, learning is going to happen more readily.”

During the work session, board member Marie Manning asked if the additional stipends were developed to help increase principal pay particularly in schools where some teachers, because of new stipends made available in recent years, made a higher salary than the principal.

“I would say that’s probably correct,” Mackey said. Wilson said that the reason that may be the case is because teachers are earning that stipend for “doing more stuff.”

“So principals who do [the program] will make more money for doing more stuff. It’s additional work. It’s not like they’re getting more money for the same thing they’ve always been doing.”

The average salary among Alabama’s principals is currently just over $108,000. Salaries range currently from $74,800 in Salem Elementary in Dallas County to $178,500 at Thompson High School in Alabaster City schools.

Principals who complete the requirements will earn a $10,000 stipend, likely paid in installments, Mackey said, getting half in December and the rest at the end of the year. Assistant principals could earn as much as $5,000 for the full year.

Administrators in low-performing or high-poverty schools can earn additional stipends: $5,000 for principals and $2,500 for assistant principals.

There are additional requirements beyond meeting the goals on their professional learning plan, Wilson said. Beginning in the fall, principals will have to complete five additional days of additional high-quality learning.

New principals hired after July 1 will work with a mentor for two consecutive years. A new evaluation system will be developed and implemented at the start of the 2025-26 school year.

Every principal will have to attend a Principal Leadership Academy, which will be developed by 2029-30.

“This leadership act,” Wilson said, “coupled with the Numeracy and Literacy Act, done to fidelity, is going to move the needle for Alabama schools, students, everybody.”