What is a Local School Council?
by: Darcey Gans
A local school council, (LSC), is a collective group of parents, teachers, community representatives, and administrators who are responsible for making decisions for a school. These decisions include: creating and developing plans of how to improve schools, distributing funds, and choosing staff. All of these responsibilities support councils in their main objective of advancing their school, but underlying all of these decisions the need to bring in capital. To effectively achieve that goal, council members need human capital, “the skills or knowledge of individuals, usually based on their education and experience” (Willingham 34). The assets that each member possesses enables them to better contribute to meetings of their council, but also makes them a resource for the council. A member becomes of even greater value to a council if they maintain social capital, which refers to “beneficial connections and social networks, such as ties to people with financial or human capital” (Willingham 34). These connections can expand the amount of resource a school is able to attain, and give opportunities that might otherwise be unavailable to a school.
Local school councils work to achieve many goals for schools, but they share a single purpose; to create democracy in schools. LSC’s force schools to answer to a community and not a board, allowing the community to demand and ensure quality education for its students. This system has proven to be highly effective with, “50%-60%...[of local school councils listed as]…high functioning” (Moore 1). However, many Local School Councils are effectively improving schools not all LSC’s are able to attain the resources they need. LSC’s are continually forced to compete against each other for the capital they rely on to function. Competition requires LSC to work as company, which increases efficiency, but decreases the possibilities of effective innovation and reform, and produces greater inequality. Competition’s favor those in power, and therefore LSC’s with greater resources receive an advantage in the struggle for capital. LSC with fewer resources have no way to compete with resources they do not have, creating gap between schools that is continually growing.
Loflin, John H. Local School Councils: Can Democracy Save IPS? Rep. Indianapolis: Black & Latino Policy Institute, 2012. Print.
Moore, Donald R. Chicago's Local School Councils: What Research Says. Rep. Chicago: Designs For Change, 2002. Print.
Schmidt, George M. Above, members of the Julian High School Local School Council meeting on the evening of April 23, 2009. On the right is interim principal Careda Taylor. In the center (wearing glasses) is Julian LSC president Larry McDonald. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt. Digital image. Substance News. Substance News, 24 Apr. 2009. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
Local school councils work to achieve many goals for schools, but they share a single purpose; to create democracy in schools. LSC’s force schools to answer to a community and not a board, allowing the community to demand and ensure quality education for its students. This system has proven to be highly effective with, “50%-60%...[of local school councils listed as]…high functioning” (Moore 1). However, many Local School Councils are effectively improving schools not all LSC’s are able to attain the resources they need. LSC’s are continually forced to compete against each other for the capital they rely on to function. Competition requires LSC to work as company, which increases efficiency, but decreases the possibilities of effective innovation and reform, and produces greater inequality. Competition’s favor those in power, and therefore LSC’s with greater resources receive an advantage in the struggle for capital. LSC with fewer resources have no way to compete with resources they do not have, creating gap between schools that is continually growing.
Loflin, John H. Local School Councils: Can Democracy Save IPS? Rep. Indianapolis: Black & Latino Policy Institute, 2012. Print.
Moore, Donald R. Chicago's Local School Councils: What Research Says. Rep. Chicago: Designs For Change, 2002. Print.
Schmidt, George M. Above, members of the Julian High School Local School Council meeting on the evening of April 23, 2009. On the right is interim principal Careda Taylor. In the center (wearing glasses) is Julian LSC president Larry McDonald. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt. Digital image. Substance News. Substance News, 24 Apr. 2009. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.