Section 2B: CO-OPTION Section 2B sets out the general duty for Boards to co-opt members and the specific power to co-opt parents to fill vacancies which arise during parent members' term of office. Section 2B(1) provides that a Board shall, as soon as is practicable after their establishment, co-opt members in accordance with section 2(1) of the 1988 Act. Co-option enables a Board to secure additional expertise or experience, for example, by co-opting a member of the business community or a senior pupil to the Board. The numbers of co-opted members that Boards must have are set out in Regulation 4 of the School Boards (Scotland) Regulations 1989. Section 2B(2) requires a Board to fill any vacancy for a co-opted member of a Board by the co-option of another person in his or her place. The rules for eligibility for co-option (sections 2(5) to 2(7)) apply to co-opted members and parent members who are co-opted to fill vacancies that arise during parent members' term of office. Section 2B(3) provides that where a vacancy for a parent member arises and no by-election falls to be held (i.e. if no request to hold a by-election is received from 30 parents, or a quarter of the electoral roll within two months of the vacancy arising), the Board can co-opt a parent member within three months of the vacancy arising. The subsection also provides that when a by-election is held and no parent is elected, the Board can co-opt within three months of the by-election. The subsection sets out that a person co-opted in these circumstances will be classed as a parent member of the Board and not a co-opted member within the meaning given in section 2(1)(c). [This subsection replaces section 2B(3) introduced by the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 which provided that no more than two co-opted parents could be members of a Board at any time. There is no such restriction on numbers under the subsection, and a Board can co-opt to fill all parental vacancies that occur between regular elections. The term of office of a parent member co-opted in these circumstances runs until the end of the regular election period in the next relevant year 2 after the co-option takes place. A co-opted parent member would therefore hold office for no more than two years. [ Section 2B(3) was enacted in response to concerns that, under the previous arrangements, where vacancies arose a School Board could be disestablished despite the fact that there may have been parents willing to serve on a Board, but who were apprehensive about standing for election. In order to balance the principle that the majority of parent members of a School Board should be elected the subsection provides that the length of time that a co-opted parent member can only hold office until the end of the next regular period in the next relevant year. Under the terms of section 2A(4) of the 1988 Act, a Board can co-opt to fill up to two vacancies following a regular election of parents. A Board that has more than two parental vacancies following a regular election would be disestablished under the terms of subsection 20(6) of the 1988 Act. |