Directs the Professional Educator Standards Board to establish a residency provisional principal certification with specific requirements. This act allows school districts to recommend candidates for certification. This act expands the authority of school principals to include decision making authority regarding personnel and budgets. This act also provides increased accountability for a principal’s ability to lead a school.   Official Text and Analysis.

Removes provisions that encourage school boards and superintendents to provide principals with increased autonomy and authority. Provisions are removed that extend to all school districts, laws that establish a different standard for superintendents to transfer principals to a lower certificated position in the district after they have been a principal for three years. Currently these laws apply only to districts with more than 35,000 students. A null and void clause is added.

Requires Provisional Certificate holders to demonstrate progress toward completion of their Principal Program, as determined by the program provider, to maintain their Certificate. Principal Programs must be offered in partnership with the Washington State Leadership Academy as well as with school districts, and must provide intensive mentoring for at least one full school year, rather than one-half of a school year.

To direct the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to conduct an analysis of alternative route principal certification programs, including comparisons to the program created in the bill, impact on student learning, and the extent programs result in nontraditional candidates and increased flexibility and innovation. Requires a report by December 1, 2011.

To require the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) to establish a residency provisional principal certification (Provisional Certification). Provides that candidates must have demonstrated professional and managerial leadership experience which need not have occurred in a school setting, and are not required to have teaching certificates.

To provide that the PESB, in adopting its standards, must include experience in supervision,counseling, and disciplining of students. Residential provisional principal certificates expire if the program provider determines that the holder has failed to make significant progress in the academic growth of his or her students. OSPI is allowed, rather than required, to issue a residency principal certificate if the holder of the provisional principal certificate has successfully completed an alternative route program.