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Explainer - Regardless of its size, every state and state-integrated school in Aotearoa New Zealand has a board, whose responsibilities range from approving budgets to expelling students.
It's accepted New Zealand has one of the world's most devolved schooling systems, with schools operating largely in isolation of each other.
Ideally, school boards "bring families, communities, and schools together to deliver quality education", according to the Ministry of Education. But they have also been blamed for opening schools to marketisation and contributing to inequality.
A wide-ranging review recommended an overhaul of the school system. Instead, tweaks were made, and continue to be made, to existing structures.
Health and safety obligations have also been in the spotlight, after the board of Whangārei Boys' High School in July pleaded guilty to two charges of exposing people to risk of serious injury or death.
Health and safety charges
Karnin Ahorangi Petera, 15, died at an outdoor education trip to the Abbey Caves Reserve on 9 May 2023. The trip went ahead despite a MetService warning for heavy rain and advice the cave system was prone to flooding.
"We encourage school boards of trustees across the country to reflect on their own systems and processes to ensure they are meeting legal requirements for education outside the classroom," WorkSafe's head of inspectorate Rob Pope said in a statement. "Students should be able to participate safely, and parents must have confidence their rangatahi will be kept safe."
Rachael Brown, a partner at legal firm Bell Gully, told RNZ the case was one of several recent examples of WorkSafe prosecuting a school board as a person conducting business or undertaking (PCBU) under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
While the case carries a maximum fine of $1.5 million, in most cases, the court doesn't impose a fine - if the board produces evidence the school couldn't afford it, she said. But reparation is always considered, and there would be court costs.
It's important to note the charges were filed against the legal entity of the board, not its individual members.
"In cases of elected boards, those individuals can't be prosecuted."
Brown said the Act "doesn't stop you doing things, but it requires schools and boards to think about how they're addressing hazards and risks, and to put good processes in place".
The Northland school has said it's adopted a new safety management plan.
Judge Gene Tomlinson set a sentencing date of 27 September.
What are school boards?
School boards are Crown entities - the most numerous type of government organisation - responsible for governing the school.
While the Ministry of Education provides schools with the buildings they occupy and pays all schools teachers through a central payroll system, school boards oversee curriculum, administration, finance, health and safety, and some aspects of property.
School boards' legal responsibilities are determined by the Education and Training Act 2020.
The Act sets out a board's primary objectives:
- Ensuring every student at the school can attain their highest possible standard in educational achievement
- ensuring the school is a safe place for all students and staff
- ensuring that it caters for students with differing needs, and
- gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
However, the government wants to make changes to these legislated goals. It wants to prioritise achievement, remove references to children's rights, and remove an expectation that schools will use te reo and tikanga Māori in meaningful ways. It also wants to add ensuring children attend class.
On 2 September, the ministry opened consultation on the proposed changes.
Board make-up
There are three types of board members elected by the parent community, staff members, and - in the case of schools with students above Year 9 - the students.
Other board members include the principal and co-opted and appointed board members.
For example, a typical board is made up of the school principal, who is also responsible for the day-to-day running of the school, five parent-elected representatives, and one staff-elected representative. High schools have a student-elected representative, and state integrated schools have four members appointed by the proprietor.
The board can also co-opt additional people for gender, skill, or ethnic balance, and the Ministry of Education can appoint an additional board member.
Boards have regular meetings (usually two or three per term), and members are paid an honorarium for attending.
Who can stand for election?
Most schools elect board members every three years, but some also run mid-term elections.
In 2022, white supremacist Philip Arps stood for Te Aratai College's board of trustees in Linwood, Christchurch.
Arps, who had previously been sentenced to 21 months' jail for sharing footage of the Christchurch terror attack, wasn't successful, but his bid raised concerns about the process.
Legislation was updated the following year, meaning those convicted of an offence listed in Schedule 2 of the Children's Act 2014 aren't eligible for election, unless the secretary for education grants an exemption.
Otherwise, anyone in the community can be a board member. Even parent representatives don't need to be parents of current students at the school, though they must be nominated by someone who is on the school's electoral roll.
All parents, legal guardians, and immediate caregivers of students enrolled full-time can vote in the elections for parent representatives.
Review and recommendations
In 1989, the Tomorrow's Schools programme became the basis for reforming primary and secondary education in New Zealand. It devolved governance to boards of trustees.
"Explicit in the new [...] model was the notion of schools as competitive units vying for students, and with this competition as the main driver of 'quality' in the system," according to a Post Primary Teachers' Association conference paper.
In 2018, a Unicef report ranked New Zealand 33rd out of 38 developed countries for overall educational equality.
The following year, a wide-ranging review of Tomorrow's Schools recommended changes to the governance, management and administration of schools.
The taskforce's final report touched on "almost every aspect of the compulsory schooling system", wrote public policy professional Michael Barker in Victoria University's Policy Quarterly last year.
On the topic of governance, the taskforce suggested boards:
- Are provided with more professional support and oversight
- are more representative of their communities
- no longer have major responsibility for capital property projects or enrolment scheme development and consultation
A proposal for "education hubs" - suggesting that some of the powers of individual school boards be shifted to regional hubs - received the most attention - and pushback.
Education union NZEI Te Riu Roa said its members were concerned hubs could mean a loss of responsiveness to local communities. The Post Primary Teachers' Association said the model appeared too like the district health board structure.
In late-2019, the Labour-led government described "the scale of structural change" proposed by the review taskforce as "a distraction from dealing with the issues facing our learners, teachers, and school leaders". Instead, it opted to make "changes to existing structures".
Hubs were out, but a newly formed Education Service Agency within the ministry would take some of the load off school boards.
This was perhaps the most significant proposal from the government, in response to the review, Barker wrote.
Established in 2021 and now called Te Mahau, the agency provides services and support from curriculum leadership, teaching resources, service design and delivery. It is also responsible for property portfolio management, and aspects of enrolment and zoning schemes.
Code of conduct
Following the review, the ministry also introduced a compulsory code of conduct for school boards. Its objectives range from disclosing and managing conflicts of interest, to being prepared for board meetings.
The board has the power to censure a member who breaches the code. If a member significantly or persistently breaches the code, the board can ask the minister to remove them. (These sanctions don't apply to a principal.)
Currently, if a student and their whānau are unhappy with a board decision, they can go to the Ombudsman or a judicial review in the High Court.
Te Whakarōputanga, the New Zealand School Board Association, has a team of advisors who help boards with governance and employment issues. If the Education Review Office (ERO) has concerns regarding the school board, it will recommend additional support, or a Ministry of Education intervention.
There are 2500 schools in New Zealand and most operate successfully, a ministry spokesperson told RNZ. "But a small number develop difficulties or have unanticipated events that they cannot resolve without outside help."
Between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024, the ministry intervened on 44 school boards.
The review taskforce recommended local panels be established to resolve disputes between students and their school.
The spokesperson said: "To date, funding has not been secured to establish dispute resolution panels and regulations are yet to be made."
