Property
Each board of trustees, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, shares responsibility for the management of school property. This relationship is recorded in the Property Occupancy Document (POD) which applies to all state schools. It is essentially a notification to schools recording who is responsible for what.
When a board takes on the governance of a school, it is implicitly agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions in the POD.
Ministry of Education's role
The Ministry of Education is responsible to the Government for ensuring boards of trustees care for and use public funding allocated for school property in an appropriate way.
The board's role
Boards of trustees have a governance, rather than a ‘hands on’ role in property management.
This means that boards:
- ensure there is alignment between the school’s vision through the Charter and their property plan
- keep up to date with current Ministry policies and requirements
- develop a 10 year property plan (10YPP) to provide the right quantity and quality of school property to achieve the best physical environment for learning
- engage project managers to manage building projects at their schools
- oversee the day–to-day management of school property to ensure it is in good order and repair.