0.1 Literature review  (Page 14/19)

• the governing body is part of the governance of a public school under the authority of the Minister of Education, the Member of the Executive Committee (MEC) for Education and the Head of Department.
• the governing body is responsible for the making of policy and laying down of broad guidelines for planning and decision making
• governors have to be aware of the differences between governance at school level and professional management at school level
• governors need to be aware of the hierarchy that exists in respect of education prevailing in South Africa namely: the Minister of Education; the MEC for Education in the nine provinces; the nine Heads of Department and the schools.

Clarke (2008; 280) states that the first and most important aspect of managing a school’s finances is to be quite clear who is responsible for what. Overlapping responsibilities need to be minimized because the areas of overlap are also likely to be areas of conflict, that is, the lines of authority and responsibility need to be clearly drawn. Mestry (2006: 28) indicates that many principals and school governing body members are placed under tremendous pressure to manage their schools’ finances because they are unable to work out practical solutions to financial problems, on account of their lack of financial knowledge, skills and expertise.

The difference between professional management and governance is somewhat difficult to isolate as these two functions normally overlap. Mestry (2004; 127) refers to this overlap as a grey area and Bisschoff and Mestry in Mestry (2004; 127) state that this grey area has given rise to many conflicts between principals and parent members of the school governing body. Section 16 [Governance and Professional Management of Public Schools] defines the responsibilities of the principal and the school governing body.

16. (1) Subject to this Act, the governance of every public school is vested in its governing body

16. (2) A governing body stands in a position of trust towards the school

16. (3) Subject to this Act, the professional management of a public school must be undertaken by the principal under the authority of the Head of Department (Superintendent General)

The principal is responsible for the professional management of the school under the direction of the Superintendent General while the overall governance of the school is vested in the school governing body, whose role is described as fiduciary in respect of its conduct towards the school. According to Mestry (2004; 129) the principal has no executive role in relation to the school governing body on property and financial matters – in fact there are no specific duties relating to assets, liabilities and property entrusted to or vested in the principal. The principal does however have a duty to facilitate, support and assist the school governing body in the execution of its statutory financial functions. Table 6 below illustrates some of the differences between professional management and governance: