School governors

In the United Kingdom, School Governors are the largest volunteer force in the country and have an important part to play in raising school standards through their three key roles of setting strategic direction, ensuring accountability and monitoring and evaluating school performance (http://www.governornet.co.uk/).

Every state school has a Governing Body, consisting of of specified numbers of various categories of governors depending on the the type and size of school. These categories include representatives from the school staff (Staff Governors), members of the local community (Community Governors), parents – ideally of children at the school – (Parent Governors), representatives of any sponsoring bodies (Foundation and Sponsor Governors) and members nominated by the Local Education Authority (LEA Governors).

The proportions vary between differing types of school, but as an example, in Community Schools, which are usually owned by the LEA, the regulations prescribe that parent governors should be at least one-third of the governors, staff governors at least two places, but no more than one-third, including the headteacher; LEA governors 20% and community governors at least 20%.

All governors are unpaid for their governance duties, excepting that the Headteacher's Staff Governor role is ex-officio, but s/he is not required to take up the role. Should s/he decide not to become a member of the governing body, their place is left vacant.

Schools generally have a delegated budget to cover salaries, running costs, maintenance and equipment. The Governing Body is responsible for managing this budget. They can decide how many and what types of staff to employ, which equipment to upgrade or replace and what the priorities are for implementing new strategies and initiatives..