Top schools to take over poor boards

Top schools will take over the management of troubled ones in the new Government's education reforms, stunning those in the industry.

The Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) says such a "fundamental" change to school governance is a surprise.

A revised Education Amendment Bill, tabled in Parliament last week by Education Minister Anne Tolley, says boards at the worst schools can be replaced by "a body corporate (including the board of another school) or a corporation sole".

The bill also gives power to the minister to set up a single board to govern two or more new schools.

It gives legal protection against mistakes made by the limited statutory managers and commissioners appointed at problem schools.

Tolley said last night that the Government would introduce an expanded range of intervention in schools.

"There is a small pool of persons experienced enough to be a limited statutory manager or commissioner," she said.

"There are times when successful boards of trustees from other schools can be usefully employed as limited statutory managers or commissioners to help struggling schools by sharing their best practice and experience."

Tolley said the Government expected the use of another school's board of trustees at troubled schools "to be limited".

The appointments would be for a limited time, so if another school's board was appointed it would only be until a new board could be elected.

The minister was given power in the bill to consolidate the governance of two or more newly established schools in a single board.

"These changes are about ensuring that all students are getting the best start by attending a school that is well-governed," Tolley said.

PPTA president Kate Gainsford said the changes were a concern.

"To do any tinkering of a fundamental nature in the absence of a review or a good look at what the flow-on effects could be is something that we would be very worried about," she said.

A school's links with its community through the school board was "a fairly fundamental tenet of the model".

Commissioners are in place at 29 schools across the country, including three in Canterbury.

A further 42 schools nationwide have limited statutory managers in place.

Three of those are in Canterbury and a further seven come from throughout the South Island.

Judy Hurdle, the acting principal of Swannanoa School, which has also previously had a commissioner, said she had reservations about the change.

"You would have to make sure that you would be matched pretty well with another school with the same clientele and the same type of area," she said.

The New Zealand School Trustees Association could not be reached for comment on the changes.

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