School Site Council

The school site council plays an important role in decision-making at many schools. The council consists of a group of teachers, parents and classified employees that work with the principal to develop, review and evaluate school improvement programs and school budgets. The members of the site council are generally elected by their peers. For example, parents elect the parent representatives and teachers elect teachers.

The exact duties of the school site council vary from state to state and even between districts in the same state, but site councils generally either make decisions or advise the principal on the school budget and the academic planning, many site councils are also responsible for making decisions about parent engagement, safety and discipline.

Questions school site councils can ask:

• What are the goals and priorities of our school?What data do we have that shows how well we are achieving those goals?

• Are we progressing toward our goals?

• Are there particular groups of students who are not doing as well as others?

• What supports could we put in place to help struggling students?

• How will we fund those supports?

• Do we have programs that are ineffective or unrelated to our goals?

• Is it possible to eliminate those programs?

• How will we know if our new programs are effective?

How to get involved:

If you are interested in school policy or budgets, you might enjoy serving on our school's site council. To find out more about what our school site council does, attend a meeting or talk to the principal. If you would like to participate on the council, call the school's office manager to find out how the selection process works here at Bret Harte. You can learn more about the official roles of site councils in your state from the Education Commission of the States.