School superintendents, in my estimation, are pretty remarkable people. The superintendents of Utah's largest school districts, which are some of the largest in the nation, oversee tens of thousands of students, thousands of employees, hundreds of thousands in school funds and major construction projects. They also help to guide policy, direct the instructional program and make sure hundreds of school buildings are safe and well maintained.

In the smallest school districts, superintendents wear many hats. Once I rode along with then-Tintic District Superintendent Patty Rowse. We traveled dirt roads — the old Pony Express Trail — to visit schools in Trout Creek and West Desert. The trip served a dual purpose, to check in with school principals and teachers and to deliver milk to schoolchildren.

That experience made a huge impression on me. This isn't a job for wimps. It's more like a calling because school superintendents have many skills and advanced degrees they could put to work in the private sector for a whole lot more money. Their skills are pretty much interchangeable with those of Fortune 500 CEOs. They have experience working with boards of directors (school boards), shareholders (taxpayers); employees (teachers, classified workers, school administrators) and customers (students and parents). They have to know a lot about corporate (school) law. They even have the right wardrobes.

The last thing we want to do is encourage young school administrators out there who entered education to make a difference in children's lives to change career paths because of a requirement such as this. The way the bill is currently written, superintendents would be subject to retention votes and yet they would have no voting authority. It's the worst of all worlds for them — no additional authority and having to look over their shoulder every time one makes a recommendation to the school board.

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Marjorie Cortez, whose reporting experience suggests there are many more good Utah superintendents than bad, is a Deseret Morning News editorial writer. E-mail her at marjorie@desnews.com.