Top schools to manage failing ones, government proposes

Top schools may take over the management of troubled ones under government education reforms.

A revised Education Amendment Bill, tabled in parliament this month, says boards at the worst schools can be replaced by "a body corporate (including the board of another school) or a corporation sole".

The bill also gives power to the minister to set up a single board to govern two or more new schools. It gives legal protection against mistakes made by the limited statutory managers and commissioners appointed at problem schools.

Reported in the Press, education minister Anne Tolley said the government would introduce an expanded range of intervention in schools.

"There are times when successful boards of trustees from other schools can be usefully employed as limited statutory managers or commissioners to help struggling schools by sharing their best practice and experience."

The appointments would be for a limited time, so if another school's board was appointed it would be only until a new board could be elected.

Meanwhile, the bill also halts a plan for compulsory police vetting of parents and volunteers who had unsupervised access to children.

Mrs Tolley, reported in the Press, said the original plan was widely criticised by sector groups because it created a barrier that would stop parents from volunteering at schools and early childhood centres.

The Press article on school interventions is at this web page.

The Press article on police vetting is at this web page.