Abstract
M.Ed.
With the promulgation of the South African Schools Act, public education in South Africa was decentralised and communities were made responsible for governance of their schools. White Paper 1 on Education and Training confirmed the inability of the state to meet financial requirements of public education. It placed a responsibility on school governing bodies to utilise all measures within their means to supplement schools’ resources, and emphasised the need to create a sense of community in and around schools to contribute to the success of their respective schools.
School governing bodies often undertake extensive capital projects in the interest of the school, with funds raised through the school community, on property that belongs to the state. Despite the fact that school governing bodies are responsible to raise substantial funding, and remain accountable for all actions and outcomes pertaining to procurement, their discretional abilities in the appropriation of school funds and alienation of assets are limited by legislation, irrespective of the origin of the funds or assets in question. These restrictions have a substantial impact on the way that financing is structured and managed by public schools.
Measures to centralise the power of decision-making and restrict autonomy of public schools are in stark contrast with international trends towards decentralisation of significant authority and responsibility to public schools. The constitutional space exists for schools to maintain a distinctive character, but requirements imposed upon schools by education authorities make it difficult to do so in practice. This is demonstrated through a series of litigation between the governing bodies of public schools and education authorities. Judgements of the South African Constitutional Court in the matter between The Federation of Governing Bodies for South African Schools v Member of the Executive Council for Education, Gauteng (2016) and in the case involving Rivonia Primary School (2013) contradict international reform measures to protect freedom and autonomy in education. Parents and communities carry the main...