School trustee elections will make a difference

School trustee elections will make a difference

Every three years, parents of students enrolled at state and state-integrated schools around the country select the people who will be ultimately accountable for the education their children receive. Parents may nominate any eligible member of the community who has useful skills and experience to be on the board of trustees. Voting is restricted to parents of currently enrolled students whose names are on the school’s electoral roll.

Having an effective board of trustees can make a big difference to a school says NZSTA President Lorraine Kerr. An effective board will help to make sure that the students are safe, achieving well and happy at their school, that the principal and staff have the resources they need to make that happen, and that the school has a good relationship with their community.

The triennial school trustee election is one of the most significant democratic processes in New Zealand, says Ms Kerr.

School boards of trustees around the country are making good progress in preparing for this year’s triennial trustee elections to be held in May-June.

A survey of 700 boards of trustees conducted by NZSTA this month shows that over 93% of boards surveyed have already started planning for the 2016 elections, two out of three have already identified a returning officer to manage the election process on their behalf, and around one in six have already begun actively searching for prospective board members. At the time of the last triennial elections there were 18,435 people serving on the boards of trustees of New Zealand’s 2422 state and state-integrated schools.

NZSTA is again managing the trustee election process in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

Information for parents and prospective trustees is available from the Trustee Election website http://www.trustee-election.co.nz/.

ENDS

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