Ex- officio Clergy Governors
All church schools have an ex officio seat on their governing body which is reserved for the incumbent of the parish. This is confirmed by the Statutory Instrument of Government of the school which will specify the parish concerned. In a few cases, where the school catchment covers several parishes, there may be two ex officio governors specified in the instrument. Where the parish is incorporated into a larger team ministry the Instrument of Government may be re-written to show that the ex officio seat may be taken by any member of the wider ministry team and need not be the priest with particular oversight of the parish in which the school is located. Any such re-writing of the Instrument requires the new Instrument to be agreed by the Diocesan Board of Education and also agreed and lodged with the Local Authority, while duplicate copies will be held by the school’s clerk to the governors.
The ex officio governor is a full member of the governing body with additional particular responsibilities relating to the church foundation of the school. Historically the ex officio governor automatically became chair of governors, but this is no longer an expectation placed upon them. Although not stated explicitly in the instrument, they are naturally regarded as the lead foundation governor. The ex officio remains a governor of the school for as long as they are priest of the parish. There is no legal restriction on the number of ex officio posts an incumbent can hold.
In a parish interregnum it is important for the school to maintain the balance of foundation governors on its governing body, especially in the case of Voluntary Controlled schools where there may be only a total of three foundation governors. A process known as an “Archdeacon’s Appointment” is used to temporarily nominate someone to fill the ex officio seat on the governing body; this appointment lasts until the arrival of the new incumbent. The PCC will be expected to nominate the person to be an Archhdeacon’s Appointment to the school in exactly the same way as it nominates other foundation governors.
The Diocesan Board of Education expects incumbents who, for any reason, do not feel able to take up the ex officio post on a school’s governing body to use the Archdeacon’s Appointment process to find a substitute foundation governor for the school. Like all other foundation governors, the Archdeacon’s Appointment governor is not required to live in the parish, or to be an Anglican, and may be lay or ordained. In this case the temporary governor does not have a set term of office and will be expected to stand down when the incumbent determines to return to their governing body role or a new incumbent is appointed.
The stipulation that a person is disqualified from holding or from continuing to hold office as a governor if he or she: fails to attend the governing body meetings – without the consent of the governing body – for a continuous period of six months, is not applicable to ex officio governors.[i] It is therefore of particular importance that an incumbent who chooses not to be a school governor acts in the best interests of their school in finding a substitute governor, rather than simply not attending meetings.
[i] See the DfE’s Governors’ Guide to the Law http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/g/governors%20guide%20may%202012.pdf