Yes. There is no reason why you cannot volunteer for both the school’s governing body and the parent teacher association (PTA).
The National Governance Association (NGA) have remarked on this in the PTA+ magazine and confirmed that being a governor and a PTA member is perfectly fine.
“Having someone on the board who is also part of the PTA can be a good opportunity for the governors to engage with parents and bring in that parent’s perspective, but they aren’t there as a representative of the PTA.”
PTA+ Magazine, Spring 2023
The only problem that might arise would be a conflict of interest. This is where the interests of a particular person may conflict with the interests of the governing body as a whole. This happens when someone could stand to benefit from their position as a governor, for example by receiving money.
A separate article looks at conflicts of interest in detail, but being a member of the PTA is unlikely to lead to a conflict because both the PTA and the governing body are working to benefit the school and decisions on how to spend PTA money are not made by governors. The PTA is a charity in its own right and is run by its own trustees.
Governors do make decisions about how the school budget is spent but any money raised by the PTA is not included in that budget. Parentkind gives advice on running PTAs and they confirm that it is PTA members, not the headteacher or governors, who decide how PTA money is spent.
“As PTA funds belong to the PTA (and not to the school) it’s the PTA elected committee members’ decision on how they are spent.”
Parentkind
There is also a rule that says governors must not take part in discussions if a “fair hearing” is required and they may not be impartial.
Again, this is unlikely to occur just because of your PTA membership, unless perhaps a serious complaint had been made about the PTA or one of its members. (Minor complaints would not be heard by governors.) If a serious complaint occurred you should not be involved in the investigation or decision-making.
If there is any dispute at a meeting as to whether a conflict of interest exists or not governors can vote on the issue and decide this among themselves.
What the law says about conflicts of interest
The following quote explains the conflict of interest laws which apply to all maintained schools. This law does not apply to academies but they will have similar wording in their articles of association that restrict how they can govern.
“Where in relation to any matter—
(i) there may be a conflict between the interests of a relevant person and the interests of the governing body,
(ii) a fair hearing is required and there is any reasonable doubt about a relevant person’s ability to act impartially, or
(iii) a relevant person has a pecuniary interest,
that person, if present at a meeting of the school at which the matter is the subject of consideration, must disclose his or her interest, withdraw from the meeting and not vote on the matter in question.”
Roles, Procedures and Allowances (England) Regulations 2013