Changing the number of other appointees
Te panoni i te maha o ērā atu tāngata kua kopouaopen_in_new
Some boards have other types of appointed members from organisations or body corporates associated with the school, such as a whānau group or an Iwi Education Authority.
Changing the number of other appointees on your board is a process that involves altering the board’s constitution.
Section 121 of the Education and Training Actopen_in_new sets out how a board can do this.
Why would you change the number of other appointees on your board?
There are various reasons why a board may decide to change the number of other appointees on their board.
Small schools with only a few staff and students may find it difficult to fill all the positions.
A school may have grown considerably, and the board may need to increase the number of appointees to reflect the community's size better.
The organisation or body corporate may no longer be associated with the school, and representation is not required.
Whatever the reason, please contact us for advice to make an informed decision before proceeding.
What changes can be made?
A board can decide to approve (or withdraw its approval) for a body corporate to appoint a specified number of board members to the board.
It can also decide to increase or reduce the number of other appointees.
The number of other appointees you can have depends on your board structure and constitution.
However, a board must always have more elected parent representatives than the total of co-opted and appointed board members.
Please note that the board cannot make changes to board members appointed by the Minister of Education as part of a statutory intervention.
How does your board make the changes?
First, your board must notify your school community that you are holding a meeting to discuss changing your constitution, as they have the right to attend.
Make sure the topic is included in your board meeting agenda and discussed in the public section of your board meeting.
If your board decides to proceed, you need to make a resolution and record it in your meeting minutes.
What happens next?
Once your board has altered your constitution, you need to:
- Update your board member registeropen_in_new and complete the School Board Updatesopen_in_new form
- Advise your school community of the changes
- Email the Ministry of Education and GovHub to notify us of the changes using the following suggested wording:
“The [insert school name] board [insert school profile number] resolved at a meeting on [insert date] to alter the number of other appointees on its board to [insert number].”
Questions your board could ask
- Have we sought advice from GovHub on changing the number of other appointees?
- Have we notified the school community of the meeting where we’ll be discussing the change?
- Have we recorded our decision in our minutes?
- Have we notified the Ministry of Education and GovHub of our changes?
- Have we updated our board member registeropen_in_new and completed the School Board Updatesopen_in_new form?
Templates, resources, and references
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Links from us
The Ministry of Education
Education and Training Act 2020