This is a quick guide to voting procedures at meetings of school governing bodies. It covers both maintained schools and meetings of academy trustees. (Note though that meetings of academy committees may have different rules as academy trusts have the freedom to set their own committee procedures.)
All Votes Are By Majority
In both maintained schools and academy trustee meetings decisions are made by a majority vote – in other words, if more governors vote in favour than vote against then the vote has passed. It does not have to be unanimous.
“Every question to be decided at a meeting of the governing body is to be determined by a majority of the votes of the governors present and voting on the question.”
Roles, Procedures and Allowances (England) Regulations 2013
“Subject to these articles, every question to be decided at a meeting of the trustees shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the trustees present and voting on the question. Every trustee shall have one vote.”
Model Articles of Association (2021)
All Governors Have One Vote
There are lots of different types of governor in maintained schools but they can all vote. Co-opted governors can vote, parent governors can vote, local authority governors can vote. Staff governors, foundation governors and partnership governors can all vote too. As long as you’re a governor, you can vote.
Academy trustees can all vote too, whether they’re parent trustees, co-opted trustees or any other kind of trustee. Academy trusts can set their own rules for committee meetings, including local governing bodies, but it would be usual practice for all local governors and other committee members to have a vote on the committee(s) they sit on.
The only exception to the “one governor one vote” rule is that if a vote is tied the person who is chairing the meeting has a casting vote to break the deadlock.
The right to vote is removed if a governor or trustee has a conflict of interest. For example, if a governor runs a cleaning company that the governing body may wish to hire, that governor must leave the room when the item is discussed and not vote on the issue.
The right to vote is also removed from an individual governor if the board is deciding whether to elect them as chair or vice-chair or deciding whether to appoint, reappoint, suspend or remove them from the board. This rule is explicit in law for maintained schools and is implicit in academy model articles which say that a trustee must “absent himself from any discussion” where he has a personal interest.
The Headteacher Usually Has A Vote
Headteachers are slightly more complicated because they can choose not to join the governing body and in an academy can only be a trustee if they have been appointed by the members. (Maintained school headteachers have an automatic right to be a governor, although they can choose not to sit on the board.)
In most cases though the headteacher or principal will be a governor/trustee and will therefore have a vote.
The clerk never has a vote and neither do any invited guests or observers.
Associate Members Can Vote On Committees Only
Associate members in maintained schools cannot vote at full governing body meetings. They can vote on committees but only if they have been given the right to do so by the full board. A separate article gives more detail on the role of associate members.
Academies may also use the term “associate member” to describe members of committees who are not trustees, but each academy trust can set its own rules for voting. In general, any member of an academy committee will usually have a vote.
Voting Procedures
There are no set procedures for voting so governors can choose whether to hold a ballot, ask for a show of hands or simply request verbal agreement. However, be aware that some forms of voting are banned.
Proxy voting is not allowed in maintained schools. If the staff governor, for example, cannot attend a meeting they cannot ask another staff member to attend in their place and vote on their behalf. In academies, the trustees cannot vote by proxy either (but the members can).
Voting by email is not allowed in maintained schools, so in these schools governors cannot vote in advance of a meeting. Academy trustees can make decisions via written resolution and the current model articles (2021) allow for “electronic” resolutions to be passed.
The law and model articles (2021) also allow governors and trustees in all schools to vote via phone or video link if they are attending the meeting virtually.
I have to admit that when I first started clerking for governing body meetings I was slightly baffled as to how governors were making decisions, because issues seemed to be decided almost telepathically without ever using a show of hands or the chair calling for a vote. Votes are commonly held informally, often assuming that there is agreement unless someone verbally objects.
Here’s a description of voting procedures from North Yorkshire governor services that probably sums up the experience of many meetings.
“Often propositions will be discussed without a formal resolution or a formal vote.
“The chair, judging the views of those at the meeting and assessing that there is a consensus, asks “all in favour” and notes a series of nods, grunts and vague hand movements indicating that there is general agreement. Unless anyone disagrees the decision is taken.”
Clerk to Governors’ Handbook, North Yorkshire Governor Services
If the clerk is struggling to work out whether an item has been approved (or whether a vote has even taken place) a useful tip is to ask “Who is voting against that please?” rather than who is voting in favour. This means that anyone who objects needs to actively speak up and you’re not left guessing as to whether a murmur or a vague bob of the head signifies a vote in favour or against.
Abstaining From Votes
If a governor is eligible to vote but does not wish to do so they can abstain, which means they are choosing not to take part in that vote.
I’ve only seen this happen a few times in many years of clerking, but if it does happen the governor concerned will not count towards the quorum. (I checked this once with the defunct DfE-funded advice service GovernorLine and their advice is shown below.)
In the minutes you would record whether the vote was passed or not and that one governor abstained.
“If governors either abstain from voting or leave the room then they no longer count towards the quorum. Section 14(3) of the Roles, Procedures and Allowances Regulations 2013 makes it clear that it must be a ‘majority of the votes of governors present and voting.”
Governorline
Proposing and Seconding
Some boards use a process where a vote is proposed and another governor will second it (literally saying the word “seconded”) to show that they support the vote going ahead.
There is no requirement to do this in the law for maintained schools or model articles for academies. It is possible you may have standing orders or committee terms of reference that require it, but in my view it’s not a useful process.
The purpose of seconding is to stop a board spending time on votes that only one person wants to take, but in a governing body it is usually obvious what votes are needed because the board must approve certain policies, agree the budget, elect the chair and so on.
The only time seconding might come in useful is if you have a governor who frequently proposes votes that the board do not wish to take, but even then it will probably not save you much time.
Voting By Ballot
For important votes governors can choose to use a written ballot system, although there is no requirement to do so. A ballot would be particularly suitable for electing the chair and vice-chair or when a vote could be controversial, for example a proposal to make some staff redundant.
The clerk can provide blank pieces of paper for ballot slips and can also count the votes and announce the result.
Tied Votes
If the vote is tied the chair of the meeting can use their casting vote to break the deadlock but in a maintained school they may only do so if they are a governor, not an associate member.
In addition, a casting vote in a maintained school cannot be used on a committee that has been established to consider the “appointment, grievance, conduct and discipline, capability, suspension or dismissal of individual members of the school staff”.