School Councils

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Elections

School council membership and elections

School councils comprise parents, the principal, staff and often community members. School council elections are held in February or March each year. All parents or guardians of students enrolled at the school are eligible to vote for parent members, and staff vote for staff members. Community members are co-opted by the school council.

 

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School council membership

A school council's constituting Order specifies the total size of the council and the number of members in each category.  Most members of a school council stand for election at the school where they are parents or Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) employee members. Other members can be co-opted by the council within the limits of the constituting Order. A school council must be between 6 and 15 members in total size and can have up to three categories of membership.

Membership categories

  1. A mandated elected parent category. Because parents have such an important part to play in schools, there is an elected parent member category. Parent members must comprise of more than one-third of council's total membership. DEECD employees are eligible to be parent members at their child's school, as long as they do not work at the particular school.
  2. A mandated elected DEECD employee category. Members of this category may make up no more than one third of the total membership of school council. As the Executive Officer, the principal of the school is automatically one of these members .
  3. An optional community member category. Its members are co-opted by the decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experience, for example parent club representative, student representatives, an accountant. DEECD employees are not eligible to be community members.

Office bearers

Mandated school council positions are:

  • President – Parent member (non DEECD employee), who is chairperson of school council meetings
  • Executive officer – the principal

Other positions may include:

  • Vice president - Parent member (non DEECD employee) or community member, who chairs school council meetings in the absence of the president
  • Convenor of the finance sub-committee – as elected from council members, preferably a non DEECD parent member or a community member
  • Minute taker - can be filled by a non council member. If this is the case, that person is required to be a silent observer and has no voting rights. Alternatively, the position of minute secretary can be filled by a council member

The following documents provide further details on school council membership:

 

Terms of Office

 

School council members are elected (or appointed in the case of community members) for a two year term. Half the membership is elected or co-opted each year creating vacancies for the annual school council election.

The term of office and rights and responsibilities of community (i.e. co-opted) members are the same as those of elected councillors. 

Changing the size or configuration of school council

School council can change both the size and the configuration of its membership, within the guidelines provided by DEECD, by completing the Change in Size of School Council Form (Word - 38Kb) and either mailing or faxing it into the Department.

 

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Election process

The principal arranges and conducts the election according to the election process. Each year, the principal will issue a notice and call for nominations in late February or early March.

Prospective councillors need to complete the relevant nomination form. Completed nomination forms should be returned to the principal within the timeframe stated on the notice of election, seven days from the date the notice of election was posted. Ask at the school for help if you would like to stand for election and are not sure what to do.

If there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on council, a ballot will be conducted two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

The guidelines and nomination forms are contained within the Principals' Guide to School Council Elections 2009. This guide can be found in the school councils - election process section.

 

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More information

For more information see: