EDUCATION BOARD REPRESENTATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 422, 11 August 1908, Page 3

EDUCATION BOARD REPRESENTATION.

A More Equitable System Required.

At the inaugural meeting of the Wanganui District School Committees’ Association held at Wanganui on Friday evening last, the question of representation was considered. Mr Armstrong contended that the voting powers of committees should be based on the number of scholars represented by them. The Chairman said the existing system was altogether inequitable. He pointed out that in the case of their own district, schools with under 25 scholars, of which their are 29, the total average attendance is 471, or an average per school of 1 scholars. The total votes on the present basis, of five for each committee, is 145, or a percentage equal to one vote for every 3 % scholars. In the case of schools ranging from 25 to 199, of which there are 34, the voting on the basis of seven for each committee works out at one to a little under seven scholars, while for the five schools of over 200 scholars with a voting power of nine for each committee the average voting is one to 39 scholars. Wanganui, with an average of 1270, had 29 votes, which worked out at one vote only for every 46 scholars, as compared with one to seven and one to three and a quarter respectively on the county. This, he contended, was absolutely unfair. After discussion it was resolved, on the motion of Mr Armstrong, seconded by Mr Field, “ That the attention of the Minister of Education and the member lor the district be drawn to the position in which school committees are placed in the Wanganui educational district with respect to the election of the Education Board, and this Association urges that the Education Act be amended so as to provide for a more equitable and democratic mode of election on lines designed to ensure representation on the basis of the average attendance ot scholars at the school or schools represented by the respective committees.”