CSBA’s Small School District Advisory Workgroup focuses on the superintendent-principal

research spotlight

By Angela Asch

CSBA’s Small School District Advisory Workgroup is composed of small and rural local educational agencies across the state with an average daily attendance (ADA) of 2,500 or fewer students. The workgroup convenes monthly to address various issues that impact these districts.

Topics raised in meetings over the last three years have led to more awareness of the issues of small and rural LEAs and resulted in legislation that better supports them. Recent projects include development of a comprehensive list of county office of education services for small and rural LEAs; reports on state and federal reporting requirements, resulting in CSBA’s co-sponsorship of Senate Bill 1315 and subsequent SB 374; and research on a statewide survey about the impact of late start legislation, SB 328.

A 2024 Annual Education Conference and Trade Show (AEC) workshop about the unique role of the superintendent-principal in small and rural LEAs inspired further research on the topic. Workgroup discussions focused on the many responsibilities of the superintendent-principal, understanding this unique role, and its impacts on the administrators and school community. A subcommittee met with CSBA’s Research and Education Policy Development (REPD) Department staff to develop a survey.

The superintendent-principal survey launched in summer 2025 and was sent to 263 dual-role administrators across the state using a list that REPD developed. Sixty-two superintendent-principals responded. The survey included open-ended and multiple-choice questions about topics such as resource needs, barriers to success, opportunities for support, time allocation and work-life balance.

The survey findings are now available in the report, Two Jobs, One Person: Supporting the “blue collar” superintendent-principal. The report aims to shed light on the multifaceted role of the superintendent-principal, challenges they face and opportunities for support.

The following are highlights from the report.

Resource needs

What resources do superintendent-principals feel are necessary for them to be successful in their dual role? Participants rated funding to implement the district’s goals (85 percent), staff trust and buy-in (82 percent) and more time (77 percent) as “very important” to doing their jobs well.

One respondent shared that “support from the county office, board of trustees and an office manager/secretary is essential to administrate the site successfully. Their ability to work cooperatively for the benefit of the students is essential.”

Barriers to success

What tasks and events divert superintendent-principals’ time and attention away from their instructional leadership? Survey respondents listed preparing mandated state and federal reports, facilities or equipment outages or malfunctions, and preparing board reports as consuming the bulk of their time.

One participant highlighted these unique issues, stating, “Rural sites require ongoing monitoring and management of water treatment, septic and power issues on a regular basis, which is a significant time burden. Small school districts often lack adequate substitute teacher pools to draw from for absences, necessitating admin coverage for absent teachers and staff. Also, given the massive and diverse workload, the ability to fully focus on single-project implementation is impossible, which impacts monitoring and effectiveness. Interruptions and emergencies without additional staff to assist force many tasks into triage mode.”

Opportunities for support

School board members and superintendents make up an LEA’s governance team and working collaboratively is critical in achieving vision and goals. Participants rated the top three actions school board members can take to support their superintendent-principals:

Having open and regular communication
Engaging with the community to build trust and support for the district
Setting clear goals and expectations for the job

For constructive meetings as a governance team with superintendent-principals, respondents rated the following as “very important”:

Reading and understanding applicable documents in advance of the meeting
Listening to all community feedback
Having a lifelong learner mindset (e.g., continued professional development)

Asking questions before a meeting, understanding the Brown Act and being committed to engaging with the community were also rated highly in the open-ended responses.
Participants identified the top three actions that erode trust among superintendent-principals and school board members as board members not using proper chain-of-command protocol for community concerns, micromanaging time or actions, “gotcha” questions or accusations in an open-session board meeting.

Time allocation

LEA leaders must allocate their time wisely and prioritize pressing issues to accomplish their responsibilities. Survey participants shared that attending meetings, writing reports and managing student discipline take up the majority of their time.

Survey participants were also asked about how many hours are spent preparing for board meetings. While the majority, 44 percent, shared that they spend six to 10 hours preparing for board meetings, 39 percent of participants shared that they spend one to five hours preparing, 14 percent shared that they spend 11-15 hours preparing, and 3 percent spent more than 15 hours.

Work-life balance

Surveyed superintendent-principals rated the constant need to be available, lack of resources and a high-stress environment as preventing them from balancing their professional and personal lives.

One respondent explained, “The amount on my plate for all parts: I am the facility director, Special Education director, Human Resources director, custodian and [wear] many more hats.”

Recommendations for governance teams

While additional funding is always needed to maintain the comprehensive work that LEAs do for students and their families, it is not always provided. CSBA offers the following recommendations to help support superintendent-principals:

Be creative about building and maintaining strong community partnerships
- Where can partnerships pick up the slack or fill in gaps?
- Can collaborations extend beyond the LEA or region?
Create and maintain boundaries
- Avoid calling or texting during out of school time/business hours unless it is an emergency.
- Trust first.
Develop board norms for meetings
- Reach out with questions or concerns about board items prior to the meeting to avoid “gotcha” or on-the-spot questions.
Practice following the “chain of command”
- Direct staff and community members to the superintendent-principal first when they reach out with concerns or complaints.

Special thanks to the workgroup subcommittee for their time, feedback and insights on this research project: North Cow Creek Elementary School District Superintendent-Principal Rob Effa; Region 10 Director and Caruthers Unified School District board member Kathy Spate; Camino Union ESD Board President Pat Kernan; and Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union board member Lola Skelton.

Angela Asch is a principal research manager in the CSBA Research and Education Policy Development Department. Questions? Contact research@csba.org.

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