Auditor-General John Doyle is completing a raft of reports as he prepares to finish his term next month and head for a similar job in Victoria, Australia.
One of his audits looked at the governance of school districts in B.C., and he sampled three districts, one of which was Surrey.
On the whole, the Surrey district fared well in his report, with one major improvement suggested. He also looked at the Mission and Cariboo-Chilcotin districts in his examination.
Doyle’s comprehensive look at school district governance is timely and worthwhile.
Surrey, as the largest school district in B.C., has a budget of more than $650 million in 2012-13. It has 70,000 students in its various schools and programs.
Doyle concluded that the board of education makes its responsibilities clear and easily available to the public. The board properly delegates responsibilities for managing and operating the district to management – with trustees’ role being to establish policies and approve the strategic direction of the district.
His office also concluded that the board on a yearly basis monitors management’s achievement of goals and objectives, and the next year’s student achievement contract is created based on the district’s goals and approved budgets.
The district also has a transparent and appropriate communications strategy. This is vitally important in a public body with so many employees and many thousands of parents who need to know what is happening at their child’s school, and with their child’s education.
The main recommendation for improvement for the Surrey Board of Education coming from his report is that it publish a charter outlining expectations of board members, update its employee conduct policy, and establish a complete code of conduct and ethical standards.
This is an important recommendation, and it is somewhat surprising that Surrey does not have this in place. The board’s response is that it is engaged in policy review and will include a consolidated code of conduct within its policies by June. It notes that the elements for a comprehensive code of conduct exist, but agrees that it is important that they be consolidated and made clearer.
At a time when professional misconduct is under the microscope, such a code of conduct is necessary. It is particularly important in an organization as large and complex as Surrey School District.
As the report notes, six of the seven members of the Surrey Board of Education are longtime trustees, and as such they have many years of experience to bring to the table.
There is not an “us vs. them” attitude at the board table, as there was at times in the 1980s and 1990s, and even as recently as about seven or eight years ago.
The Surrey district has always attracted exceptional staff – going back at least 60 years or more. It has had good leadership from strong superintendents, and has had very competent and experienced staff in the areas of educational practices, counselling, special education, project supervision, and financial management.
The auditor general’s report confirms that the calibre of education in Surrey will continue to be very good.
Frank Bucholtz is the editor of The Langley Times. He writes weekly for The Leader.