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Board of Trustees Responsibilities

Ohoka Office — May 28th, 2019

The responsibilities of the board are clearly set out in section 75 of the Education Act 1989.s.75

Boards to control management of schools -Except to the extent that may enactment or the general law of New Zealand provides otherwise, a school's board has completed discretion to control the management of the school as it thinks fit.Other relevant legislation includes: the State Sector Act 1988, the Crown Entities Act 2004, the Official Information Act 1982, the Privacy Act 1993, the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, the Human Rights Act 1993, and the New Zealand bill of Rights Act 1993. Acts of Parliaments can be accessed at www.legislation.govt.nz
It is the responsibility of the board to publish annually a school charter. The charter establishes the mission, aims, objectives, directions and targets of the board that will give effect to the Government's national education guidelines and the Boards priorities. It is an undertaking by the Board to the Minister of Education to ensure that the school is managed, organised, conducted, and administered for the purposes set out.
Each year the board is required to prepare an annual report, this legal requirement along with the minimum to be included is contained in the Education Act 1989 and the Crown Entities Act 2004. Effectively this is to ensure the board is publically accountable for how the school’s revenue is spend and for the use and maintenance of the school’s buildings and land, which are crown resources.
Boards are also responsible for:

Roll returns
Being a good employer
Safety and Education Outside the Classroom
Emergency Management Planning

The standard constitution of a board of trustees is:

School Programmes located off site.
5 parent elected representatives
The principal
A staff representative
Co-opted trustees

The number of parent representatives can be altered if required to meet the needs of the school. The membership of the board of trustees can also be altered to better reflect the school community it serves.

Code of Ethics

The board is committed to ethical conduct in all areas of its responsibilities and authority. Trustees shall:

Ensure the needs of all students and their achievement is paramount.
Be loyal to the organisation and its mission.
Respect the integrity of the principal and staff.
Observe the confidentiality of non-public information acquired in their roles as trustees and not disclose to any other persons such information that might be harmful to the school.
Be diligent and attend board meetings prepared for full and appropriate participation in decision making.
Ensure that individual trustees do not act independently of the board’s decisions.
Speak with one voice through its adopted policies and ensure that any disagreements with the board’s stance are resolved within the board.
Avoid any conflicts of interest with respect to their fiduciary responsibility.
Recognise the lack of authority in any individual trustee or subgroup of the board in any interaction with the principal or staff.
Recognise that only the chairperson can speak for the board.
Continually self-monitor their individual performance as trustees against policies and against any other current board evaluation tools.

New Zealand Legislation: Acts

New Zealand School Trustees Association

Ministry Of Education

School Operations