Should School Governors Be Paid?

I’m starting a new feature this week on the blog: The Big Debate.

Each week we’ll look at a key debate in governing, some of the arguments for, some of the arguments against and you can let everyone know your thoughts on the Facebook discussion board.

For

School governors are ultimately in charge of our most important assets – our children’s future. Quite apart from the huge amount of public money that schools spend each year, when the job of a governing body is done well schools have the ability to create a whole nation of secure and prosperous individuals.

With the huge impact that governors have on schools, and the huge impact that schools have on young people it’s only appropriate that we try to secure the best candidates for this job – and to secure the best candidates they must be paid for the job they do.

Almost overnight you would see a change in attitude. The numbers wanting to be a governor would increase and schools, rather than having to beg time off busy professionals, they would have more applicants than spaces – enabling them to select only the best, most committed individuals.

Against

Paying for the work that people do in governing a school is an insidious prospect, and yet another incursion of the commercial world in what should stay the public sector.

People don’t become governors for the money, they become governors in order to shape the education of the next generation. This is a reward in and of itself and any mention of money would only serve to degrade and tarnish the hard honest voluntary work done by thousands of people across the country.

Not only is there no need for it, but the money it would cost would take away much needed cash from school budgets at a time when front line services are already under threat.