The Legal Form of a School and Authorization
A general education institution is created as a public-law legal entity or as a private-law entrepreneurial or non-entrepreneurial legal entity, and provides general education at the primary and/or basic and/or secondary level. A private-law legal entity may carry out general educational activity in the manner established by legislation without creating a separate legal entity. As a result of authorization, a legal entity obtains the status of a general education institution and the right to issue a state-recognized document confirming general education. The term of authorization is 9 years, and the authorization standards are determined by the Regulation on Authorization of Educational Institutions.
The independent general education programs are the primary, basic, and secondary level general education programs, a general education program implemented in a foreign language, and a program implemented in several municipalities. An institution is entitled to carry out only the program indicated in the authorization application and any program whose implementation right it obtained during the validity of the authorization in the manner established by legislation. Without creating a separate legal entity, a school may implement only a basic vocational, secondary vocational educational program, a state language preparation program, or a professional training or retraining program; a school founded in private-law form may also obtain the right to implement a preschool education program or a school readiness program. For institutions founded by or with the participation of the state, different authorization conditions may be established. If authorization is cancelled, the program completed by the student up to the relevant moment is counted.
School Duties and Powers
A school is obliged to provide students with education meeting contemporary requirements, based on national and universal values and the principles of healthy living, democracy, and equality; to create all conditions needed for the educational process; to comply with the national curriculum and to operate with grif-approved textbooks or textbooks consistent with the standards of the national curriculum and agreed with the ministry — the procedure and deadlines for agreement are determined by the minister's individual administrative-legal act. The school must also create conditions for inclusive education and for receiving general education in alternative forms; must not allow a non-scientific opinion or theory to be taught as a scientific theory or fact; must have internal quality assurance mechanisms; must ensure the safety of students on school territory during school hours and safe catering conditions; must create conditions for the functioning of a medical service space; must accept teacher-trainees; must submit to the National Center for Teacher Professional Development data on teachers and vacancies; must support teachers' professional development through financing or co-financing; and must provide students with a school library based on pluralism of opinion and career-planning measures.
Among the school's powers are: providing transport services, where possible, to students who cannot independently travel to and from the institution; demanding compliance with requirements from teachers, other staff, students, and parents; and cooperating with other schools and civic organizations. A public school may, with the parents' consent, offer students additional paid educational services contemplated by the national curriculum only if the service is not provided by a teacher employed at the same school, does not take the form of a lesson, and is not provided during the ongoing educational process within the essential workload contemplated by the school curriculum. Additional educational and upbringing services not contemplated by the curriculum, including paid ones, are also permissible, but the school must ensure their equal accessibility to all students.
The Board of Trustees — Composition and Election Rules
The board of trustees consists of no fewer than 6 and no more than 12 representatives elected for 3 years in equal numbers by the parents and the pedagogical council, plus 1 representative elected by the student self-government of the secondary level of general education and 1 member appointed by the ministry. In a school providing military training, the board also includes 1 member appointed by the Ministry of Defense of Georgia. A municipality is entitled to appoint 1 member, and the board's composition may include 1 member elected from persons engaged in confirmed charity for the school, where such persons exist. For a small-enrollment school, an exception may be allowed with the ministry's consent. Parent-elected members must equally represent each level of general education, and the term of the board's mandate is 3 years. The same person may be elected as a board member only twice in a row.
Representatives of the parents and of the pedagogical council, as well as the representative of the secondary-level student self-government, are elected to the board in equal numbers. The election procedure is determined by the ministry — elections are held on the basis of equality, by secret ballot, observing the principles of transparency and equal representation of students' parents across levels. Election results enter into force from the moment of registration in accordance with the procedure determined by the ministry. Ministry decisions related to the elections are appealed in court, and an appeal does not suspend the operation of the disputed acts; the ministry may establish terms and a procedure for filing and examining administrative complaints different from those provided by the General Administrative Code.
Board Functions and the Director's Status
The board of trustees elects the school director by a majority of the full list composition, and registers the director in the education management information system; this rule does not extend to a school providing military training. On the director's proposal, the board approves the school budget (for a military training school the budget is approved by the Ministry of Defense, its draft being developed by the director and the board together), the director's annual report, and ensures its publicity. Also on the director's proposal it approves the internal rules, which exhaustively define the list of disciplinary offenses, the sanctions for them, and the conditions of transfer from the school; it consents to the school study plan developed by the pedagogical council and to the list of study materials, including textbooks; it controls the directorate's spending of finances and disposal of property; and it endorses the draft school charter.
The board's powers regarding the director are clear: in case of violation of the employment contract and of requirements provided by legislation, the board may terminate the director's contract. It may also demand that the director terminate a teacher's contract early — upon breach of the contract, commission of an action unfit for educational activity, and in other cases provided by legislation — and, for holding end-of-year examinations, may instruct the director to apply to the National Center for Assessment and Examinations and conclude the corresponding contract. The full circle of the director's own powers is defined by other provisions of the law. The board stores the ballots and minutes of board elections, examines complaints in the manner provided by the charter, and, for examining disciplinary offenses, elects a disciplinary committee composed of equal numbers of teachers, parents, and secondary-level students; where necessary it creates an appeals committee, and the appeals committee and the board also examine complaints concerning the director's disciplinary decisions. Convening a special composition of either committee for a specific case is impermissible. The board itself decides on the early termination of a member's powers.
When a Board Member's Mandate Terminates
The law defines the full list of grounds for terminating a member's mandate. They include: termination of the member's mandate by the pedagogical council as its representative; termination of the employment relationship with the school for a pedagogical council representative; expulsion or withdrawal of the student whom the member represents, suspension of student status, or the student's transition to the next level of general education; a demand by one third of the parents of the relevant level under the "one student — one vote" principle; the member's death; a personal application; entry into force of a court conviction; the member's recognition by a court as missing, declared dead, or a recipient of support; the arising of an employment relationship between the member and the school; and the member's becoming a member of the school directorate. Upon early termination, the board decides the matter at its session.
The Pedagogical Council and Student Self-Government
In the pedagogical council, every teacher and teacher-trainee enjoys an equal vote. A session is competent if more than half of the members attend, and one third of the members may convene a session at any time. The council is chaired by a chairperson elected for a 3-year term by a majority of the full list composition. Decisions are adopted by a majority of votes, but by no fewer than one third of the total votes. In a school implementing specialized arts education, the pedagogical council's powers may be exercised by an artistic council.
The pedagogical council, in accordance with the national curriculum and with the director's participation, develops and — with the board's consent — approves the school study plans; where necessary, with the director's consent, it approves an individual curriculum; with the board's consent it approves the list of study materials, including textbooks; it elects the teacher professional development facilitator and its own representatives to the board of trustees, whom it may also re-elect early. Student self-government is a body elected in accordance with the law and the school charter and is a structural unit of the school: students of the basic and secondary levels elect their self-governments on the basis of equality, by secret ballot, observing the principles of transparency and equal representation of students by classes, and the self-government is chaired by a chairperson elected by it.