INTRODUCTION

A strong public education system is the cornerstone of a democratic society. The reason school boards exist – and the work they engage in – is to strengthen the system and make sure it is safeguarded and improved. A strong publicly funded education system ensures that every student has access to a high-quality education, which is essential for the success of individuals and society as a whole. Public education provides a space for students to experience the joy of learning and cultivate high skill levels which are crucial for meaningful participation in democracy.

Ontario school boards have a long, effective, and successful history, dating back to the early 19^th -century. Taking up the office of school board trustee is a calling, not only to carry on the tradition of local democracy, but to improve it. It is an opportunity to leave a legacy that contributes to one of the strongest education systems in the world.

Through local governance, school boards exercise their leadership in a variety of ways, including:

• Setting policy and strategic direction
• Hiring and appraising the performance of the director of education
• Approving allocation of resources through the annual board budget
• Engaging with education partners, stakeholders and the broader public

This governance role is fundamental to setting the conditions for all students to become successful, productive, and engaged citizens. Effective governance also ensures the publicly funded education system remains accountable to the people of Ontario.

WHAT IS GOVERNANCE?

Governance, in relation to a school board, is how a board of trustees operates and conducts itself. It is the framework and process for decision-making that holds leaders responsible for modeling and exercising responsible leadership.

Through their decisions and policies, they demonstrate accountability and effective stewardship of public resources in setting the conditions that enable every student to meet high standards of achievement, foster cultures of well-being and inclusion, and ensure equitable and healthy school environments.

The Education Act and its regulations provide a governance framework for school boards, including roles and responsibilities for boards, individual trustees, the chair of the board, and the director of education.

A board’s governance practices can have significant effects on students, the board’s senior team, staff, parents, and the broader community. Effective school board governance can be seen in the level of public trust in a board, the ways a board continues to improve, the strategic direction of the board, and the quality of the board’s leadership.

Good governance begins with well-defined roles and responsibilities. This includes clarity around the board’s goals, the strategies it will employ to achieve them, and the role of the director of education to manage implementation of board direction.

In a school board context, the true test of any board’s governance structure is its effectiveness in continuously working toward a high standard of student achievement, equity, and well-being. Good governance is established by accomplishing goals designed to bring positive results to all of the board’s students and staff. Public confidence is enhanced by demonstrating transparency and accountability to the public and the Ministry of Education.

Setting the conditions that will provide a high-quality education for every student to succeed in school and in life is the absolute first priority of a school board. Trustees work effectively as a member of a team to support the goals of public education.

In the book, The Governance Core, by Campbell and Fullan, the authors describe a commitment to “…a shared moral imperative – a relentless commitment to the learning of all students, no exceptions – must drive the work of the board and its individual and collective action…When trustees, directors of education, staff, and parents all operate with the same broad understanding of the moral imperative, the district can accomplish amazing learning – year after year.”

For both the Catholic and French language school systems, this moral imperative means incorporating the specific constitutional rights of their constituencies. The English Catholic and French Catholic school systems strive to support a faith community where religious identity is integral to the board’s mission. Similarly, in both the public and Catholic French-language school systems, the preservation, enhancement, and transmission of the French language and culture are fundamental to their mission. This commitment is formally outlined in Ontario’s Politique d’aménagement linguistique (PAL).

GOVERNANCE: THE MAIN ROLES

Governance embraces the highest levels of effectiveness, and, for each trustee, it involves a commitment to strong leadership, continuous learning, and long-term development.

In order to be effective in focusing the organization to be successful, the board of trustees should consider these four broad roles:

1. The Board’s Strategic Role
2. The Board’s Fiduciary Role
3. The Board’s Innovative Role
4. The Board’s Community Engagement Role

1. The Board’s Strategic Role

Under the Education Act, every school board must create a multi-year strategic plan (MYSP) that spans a minimum of three years. The purpose of the MYSP is to help boards set long-term strategic priorities and goals. The plan must be based on evidence to ensure that it has a clear purpose and that it is effective. Boards should use a collaborative process at every step in its development, so all trustees can take ownership of the MYSP and feel responsible for its success. The MYSP is a visioning and policy document that sets the direction for the board. It is fundamental to ensuring good governance and to building public trust in boards of trustees. This not only safeguards schools, but also ensure they are caring, equitable, innovative, and flexible. While schools make every effort to offer stability, they also strive to meet the changing needs and realities of our society. The operational and improvement plans created by the director of education and senior administration are based on the strategic MYSP and map out how it will be implemented.

A thoughtful and robust MYSP reflects what has been learned from the past, not what has been done in the past. It is a driver for positive change in the board. When developing their plans, boards should be relentless in their efforts to address the needs of all students and changing communities.

In addition, the Ministry of Education developed the framework of the Student Achievement Plan as a tool to support the implementation of the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act. Key regulatory and policy reforms were put in place through this Act, including a new regulation that established provincial priorities for student achievement. Ontario Regulation: 224/23 Provincial Priorities in Education – Student Achievement includes the following priorities:

1. Achievement of learning outcomes in core academic skills
2. Preparation of students for future success
3. Student engagement and well-being

School boards are required to adopt these provincial priorities into their trustee-approved multi-year plans. School boards are also required to publicly post their multi-year strategic plan, including the Student Achievement Plan using a public reporting template provided by the ministry.

2. The Board’s Fiduciary Role

Fiduciary duty is the legal responsibility of a board member to act in the best interests of the organization, rather than their own.

The board of trustees has the responsibility to competently protect the interests, image, and credibility of the school board, to ensure its financial viability, and to act in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and policies governing the board or enacted by the government.

These are significant and complex responsibilities that require trustees to quickly acquire education sector expertise and skills to effectively handle the range of information that requires decisions, as well as exercise vigilance about the impact of developments and decisions on students, families and the broader community.

Legislative requirements found in the Education Act stipulate that every school board shall “ensure effective stewardship of the board’s resources.” To do this, school boards engage in a budget development process that is based on comprehensive consultation, reflects ministry priorities, looks to the needs of the year ahead, and is led by highly skilled school board staff. Boards then meet to approve the budget prepared by staff. They should be asking the following types of questions at that time:

• Is the budget balanced? Why or why not?
• How does the budget reflect our priorities for students as outlined in the multi-year strategic plan?
• Are we being efficient?
• What assumptions did you hold when the budget was created?
• What services are we providing to which students at what cost, and what are the benefits and results?
• What are the risks associated with this budget?
• Does the budget reflect any known or anticipated cost increases?
• Were any other options considered?

Following the approval of the budget, the board’s financial governance work includes monitoring the financial status of the system and progress against the approved budget.

Board members need to understand funding sources and obligations (see Module 13 – Education Finance and Module 19 – Audit and the Role of Audit Committees), the new Core Education funding model, funding restrictions, and contract and collective agreement obligations.

School boards should strive to ensure the delivery of the MYSP, while fulfilling legislative, regulatory, and collective agreement obligations.

3. The Board’s Innovative Role

Continuous improvement goes beyond quality management; it is less about employing techniques and tools to analyze problems and find solutions and much more about establishing a culture of innovation. By fostering a culture that encourages critical thinking, staff and students are empowered to question assumptions, explore new ideas, and develop innovate solutions. Skills like problem-solving, analytical thinking, and effective communication are also essential in driving innovation.

An effective board of trustees is willing to encourage experimentation and innovation, to pilot new ideas, and be supportive through potential setbacks as they are tested. As leaders, the members of the board need to be open to ideas presented to them by stakeholders and partners such as staff, delegations, and expert presenters, and be mindful of personal biases, processes, and ideas, and the degree to which they are immersed in routine.

Board members could ask:

• Does this agenda/report provide information about the board’s progress or direction?
• Are there emerging trends or issues that could possibly change our work/focus?
• How do emerging trends or issues impact the board’s students?
• What measures of success are we considering?
• What would stakeholders want us to consider on this topic?
• Do the innovative ideas align with the board’s MYSP?

Continuous improvement involves a way of thinking and acting that is never satisfied with the status quo. Boards of trustees may question existing practices, not to find fault or micromanage but to stimulate thinking that leads to adopting the most effective strategies. The strength of a school board lies in its trustees, senior management, and staff and their ability to collaborate effectively.

4. The Board’s Community Engagement Role

Promoting community engagement requires a deep and sincere commitment to collaboration and cooperation among trustees. This commitment helps establish the board of trustees as a body focused on its place in society, and in a larger context, to actively engage with the community, including other groups and organizations that share a common purpose. It encourages the recognition and appreciation of the interconnectivity and interdependence among organizations. This is particularly critical for the Catholic and French language school boards where the capacity to empower linguistic and/or cultural identity is reinforced through establishing solid partnerships throughout the entire community and, in the process, enriching sustainable development for all sectors of that community.

For all boards, creating meaningful opportunities for community engagement is necessary to demonstrate ethical leadership. It includes opportunities for boards to hear from community voices, particularly those of historically marginalized communities, as well as related processes to inform board decision-making and governance structures. Regardless of whether trustees are elected by ward or at large, they are responsible for representing the entire school district community and as such must be versed in the specific realities and issues across the district.

Ontario school boards also have a duty to engage with Indigenous communities through formal structures, dedicated positions, and policies that support Indigenous education and foster reconciliation. This engagement is essential for improving Indigenous student achievement and well-being and promoting a more inclusive and culturally responsive education system. For more on this, please see Module 16 – First Nation Trustees: Unique Roles and Responsibilities.

A school board and its schools are not isolated entities. They are uniquely connected to:

• the lives of families
• local communities
• parallel organizations that also form part of those communities
• the provincial government structure through channels of mutual responsibility and accountability
• the nation and world at large

Among the many skills students will take with them from school, these connections ensure that children graduate with competencies to be successful in a global economy, and with the values and character that equip them to contribute to society.

CONCLUSION

This Effective Governance module supports the complex, multi-layered roles that trustees and school boards have in serving students, families, and communities, to ensure the successful future of public education in Ontario.