PART I
SCHOOL BOARDS (SCOTLAND) ACT 1988 Section 1: CONSTITUTION OF BOARDS This section provides for the establishment, functions and discontinuance of School Boards. Section 1(1) requires every education authority to establish a School Board for each school in their area. "School" is defined in section 22(2) of the Act and means a public school other than a nursery school. The effect is, therefore, to require the establishment of a Board for every public primary, secondary or special school. Nursery schools have been excluded because authorities are not required by statute to provide them and because they have a relatively transient population. Staff and parents of children in a nursery class in a primary school will, however, be able to vote and stand for election to the Board for that school. Provision for the case of a very small school which cannot support a Board, and for the case where there are insufficient parent members to form a Board following any election is made in section 20. In such cases, no Board need be established and these provisions are included as exceptions to the general duty imposed by section 1 . Section 1(2) requires a School Board to exercise first, the basic functions that are specified in sections 8-14 and 18 of the Act and second, any other function that may be delegated to it by the education authority under section 15. The Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 introduced a requirement for a Board to exercise its functions with a view to raising standards of education in the school and to support those managing the school to secure improvement in the quality of education provided by the school. In practice, this should help focus Boards' activities and reaffirm what successful Boards already do. Section 1(4) provides that a School Board is established when elections for parent and staff members have been held and the required number of parent members, as prescribed in regulations ( see Part II) made under section 2(3)(a) of the Act have been elected. (The express reference to the required number of parent members is necessary because, under section 20, a Board cannot be established without the full number of parent members. It can, however, be established in the absence of sufficient members in other categories.) A Board is therefore established after elections held after a period in which a Board has been disestablished under the provisions of section 20. (Although a Board is established following the election of parent members, the Board is required to choose its co-opted members "as soon as practicable" after it is established (section 2B(1)). The actions of a group of elected members who unreasonably delay co-opting members might, therefore, be open to challenge.) Section 1(5) provides that a Board shall cease to exist when the school for which it was established is discontinued: that is, closed or amalgamated with another school. |