Collective school administration is indeed an essential element in the educational decision-making process due to the sharing of different values among members and the contribution of a variety of knowledge and perspectives. Most of these collective bodies include other out-of-school participants. The school committee is a collective managerial body and consists of a representative of the Municipality or the Commune, a representative of the parents’ association, a representative of the pupils of the school, the head teacher of the school (and, in secondary schools, a representative of the pupils’ Community). The main aim of the school committee is to manage the finances for the day-to-day running of the school and to deal with any problem regarding the school’s operation.
Despite the attempts of Greek governments to press for administrative efficiency and to enhance school financing, the school managerial bodies (and hence the school committee) still lack the autonomy to ensure the effective execution of financial activities. The cooperation between the school committee and local government seems to lack efficiency since the funds for the schools’ expenses are not given on time, which has a substantially negative effect on the educational process. Certainly the education sector is one of the most important elements of the State’s budget and it is important to understand the decision-making processes of the public sector so that the problems of financial management and planning associated with differences in the timing of cash inflows and expenditures can be avoided. Such an efficiency in the financial management of State school expenditure would help to free resources to develop strategies for improving the educational process.
This paper investigates: the personal estimation of Greek primary school heads that participate in the school committee, the degree to which school committees effectively manage school finances, and also the Greek school financing system vis-à-vis the school committee. Finally, strategies for improving the effectiveness of this collective body are recommended. The results focus on four aspects: a) the financial procedures of the school process are complex and time-consuming, b) frequent changes to the composition of the school committee negatively affect the smooth functioning of the school units, c) a relatively high proportion of the members of the school committee do not pursue higher education, and d) the collaboration between schools and the local authorities seems to lack efficiency – delays in the delivery of funds to meet basic running costs creates significant problems in managing the school’s finances.