SCHOOL COUNCIL INFORMATION

SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTIONS

School Council Elections 2021 – Information for Parents

What is a school council and what does it do?

All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally constituted bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school within state-wide guidelines. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students.

Who is on the school council?

For most school councils, there are four possible categories of membership:

· A mandated elected Parent category – more than one-third of the total members must be from this category. Department of Education and Training (DET) employees can be Parent members at their child’s school as long as they are not engaged in work at the school.

· A mandated elected DET employee category – members of this category may make up no more than one-third of the total membership of school council. The Principal of the school is automatically one of these members.

· An optional Community member category – members are co-opted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experiences. DET employees are not eligible to be Community members.

· A mandated elected Student member category (2 positions) – to be eligible to run in the Student member category, that person must be a student enrolled in Year 7 or above at the school where they are seeking to be on council. There is no minimum age requirement. 

Generally, the term of office for all members is two years. 

What to do if you would like to stand for election?

Collect a nomination form from the school office and either self-nominate yourself or get someone to nominate you as a candidate (Parent category). This process needs to be completed in the timeframe listed in the attachment below.

If there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on council, a ballot will be conducted during the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed.

Nomination forms can be obtained from the school office or upon request can be posted or emailed.