Results of the School Boards of Trustees Mid-Term Elections: 2008

Introduction

Returning officers for each school were required to complete the Appendix A - Summary of candidates and Appendix B – Declaration of results and each newly elected board member was required to enter the Appendix F – Change of Board membership form.

Analysis of community interest in the 2008 mid-term elections

In 2008 there were 117 schools that held a voting election out of a total of 280¹ schools.  These 117 schools posted out a combined total of 63,437 voting forms², an average of 542 forms per school.  From these forms posted out 26% (16,412) were returned.  16,412 votes were cast out of which 7% were invalid.  In 2005 there were 105 schools that held voting elections.  Those 105 schools posted out a combined total of 46,607 voting forms. Overall in 2008 there were 93 Primary Schools, 8 Intermediate Schools, 10 Secondary Schools and 6 Composite schools that held voting elections. In 2005 there were 89 Primary Schools, 4 Intermediate schools, 7 Secondary schools, and 5 Composite Schools that held voting elections.

Table 1 gives the breakdown on the number of schools that participated in mid-terms and the forms posted out.

Table 1 - Number of Participating Schools & Number of Voting Forms Posted

Year	No. of schools in Mid-term Elections	Schools that held a voting election	No. Of voting forms posted	No of forms returned	No. of invalid votes cast
2005	298	35%	46,607	30%	1%
2008	280	42%	63,437	26%	7%

Analysis of candidates offering themselves for 2008 mid-term elections

Positions Available vs. Candidates

In 2008 there were 280 schools that participated in the mid-term election cycle of which 117 schools held voting elections.  Overall³ there were 619 positions available and 772 candidates. This gives an average of 1.2 candidates per position. In 2005 there were 674 positions available and 795 candidates also giving an average of 1.2 candidates per position.

Also in 2005 Secondary schools had the highest ratio of candidates per position at 1.3. Primary schools had a ratio of 1.2 and Intermediate and Composite schools both had 1.1 candidates per position.

In 2008 the Secondary and Primary schools both had the highest ratio of candidates per position at 1.3. Intermediate and Composite schools both had a ratio of 1.2.

Table 2 illustrates the comparison of positions available and number of candidates by school type for the 2005 and 2008 mid-term elections.

Table 2 – Number of Positions vs. Number of Candidates

School Type	Number of schools		Number of positions		Number of candidates		Average no of candidates per position
	2005	2008	2005	2008	2005	2008	2005	2008
Full Primary	129	121	293	263	335	315	1.1	1.2
Contributing	112	98	247	222	307	292	1.2	1.3
Sub-total Primary	241	219	540	485	642	607	1.2	1.3
Intermediate	23	21	55	50	59	60	1.1	1.2
Special School	1	1	2	2	2	1	1.0	0.5
Composite (Year 1-15)	12	14	26	31	28	36	1.1	1.2
Restricted Composite (Yr 7-10)	1	1	4	3	5	4	1.3	1.3
Sub-total Composite	13	15	30	34	33	40	1.1	1.2
Secondary (Year 7-15)	6	5	14	13	18	20	1.3	1.5
Secondary (Year 9-15)	14	15	33	35	41	44	1.2	1.3
Sub-total Secondary	20	20	47	48	59	64	1.3	1.3
Grand Total	298	276	674	619	795	772	1.2	1.2

In 2008 the Auckland and Gisborne region had the highest ratio of candidates per position at 1.4 while Taranaki region had the lowest at 0.7. In 2005 Manawatu-Wanganui region had the highest ratio of candidates per position at 1.4 while Tasman region had the lowest at 0.8.

Table 3⁴- Number of Positions and Number of Candidates by Region: 2005 vs. 2008 Mid-term comparison

Region	Number of Schools		Number of Positions		Number of Candidates		Average number of Candidates per position
	2005	2008	2005	2008	2005	2008	2005	2008
Auckland Region	51	49	117	112	127	159	1.1	1.4
Bay of Plenty Region	18	13	41	32	47	43	1.1	1.3
Canterbury Region	53	54	121	123	139	160	1.1	1.3
Gisborne Region	11	8	22	16	20	23	0.9	1.4
Hawkes Bay Region	13	14	24	33	30	40	1.3	1.2
Manawatu-Wanganui Region	24	17	57	37	79	36	1.4	1.0
Marlborough Region	12	9	28	19	36	22	1.3	1.2
Nelson Region	3	4	9	9	10	8	1.1	0.9
Northland Region	11	11	23	23	29	25	1.3	1.1
Not Applicable	0	1	0	2	0	4	0.0	2.0
Otago Region	15	15	35	32	38	40	1.1	1.3
Southland Region	14	14	31	28	39	31	1.3	1.1
Taranaki Region	7	6	15	15	19	10	1.3	0.7
Tasman Region	6	6	13	13	11	13	0.8	1.0
Waikato Region	30	23	76	54	92	70	1.2	1.3
Wellington Region	27	27	55	61	72	79	1.3	1.3
West Coast Region	3	5	7	10	7	9	1.0	0.9
Total	298	276	674	619	795	772	1.2	1.2

 

Previous experience of candidates

In 2008 53.9% had no previous experience of having been on a Board of Trustees. Twenty-nine percent were current parent representatives standing for re-election, 9.6% were current co-opted or appointed members standing for re-election and 6.3 % had been a member of a Board of Trustees at some earlier time.

In 2005 48.7% of candidates had no previous experience, 32.3% were current parent representatives standing for re-election, 9.3% were current co-opted or appointed members standing for re-election, and 8.5% of candidates had been members of a Board of Trustees at some earlier time.

Table 4 gives the comparison between 2005 and 2008 mid-term election candidates by previous experience and school type⁵.

Tables 4 – Previous Candidate Experience by School Type: 2005 vs. 2008 Mid-term comparison

School Type	Parent Representatives				Proportion who are currently parent Reps		Co-opted or Appointed Members				Proportion who are currently co-opted or appointed members
	2005		2008				2005		2008
	M	F	M	F	2005	2008	M	F	M	F	2005	2008
Full Primary	61	49	58	34	32.8%	29%	15	22	13	9	11.0%	7.0%
Contributing	60	44	45	43	33.8%	30%	9	14	14	9	7.5%	7.9%
Sub-total - Primary	121	93	103	77	33.3%	30%	24	36	27	18	9.3%	7.4%
Intermediate	7	6	9	5	22.0%	23%	2	8	5	8	16.9%	21.7%
Special	0	2	0	0	100.0%	0%	0	0	1	0	0.0%	100.0%
Composite	7	6	5	3	46.4%	22%	0	0	1	2	0.0%	8.3%
Restricted Composite (Yr 7-10)	1	0	1	0	20.0%	25%	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%
Sub-total - Composite	8	6	6	3	42.4%	23%	0	0	1	2	0.0%	7.5%
Secondary (Yr 7-15)	0	1	3	4	5.6%	35%	0	0	0	1	0.0%	5.0%
Secondary (Yr 9-15)	8	5	11	4	31.7%	34%	2	2	7	4	9.8%	25.0%
Sub-total - Secondary	8	6	14	8	23.7%	34%	2	2	7	5	6.8%	18.8%
TOTAL	144	113	132	93	32.3%	29%	28	46	41	33	9.3%	9.6%

 

School Type	Not previous members				Proportion who have never been on a Board of Trustees
	2005		2008
	M	F	M	F	2005	2008
Full Primary	89	81	100	88	50.7%	59.7%
Contributing	91	72	76	81	52.9%	53.8%
Sub-total-Primary	180	153	176	169	51.8%	56.8%
Intermediate	13	8	11	11	35.6%	36.7%
Special	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%
Composite	5	6	6	14	39.3%	55.6%
Restricted Composite (Yr7-10)	1	2	1	0	60.0%	25.0%
Sub-total-Composite	6	8	7	14	42.4%	52.5%
Secondary (Yr7-15)	2	5	7	5	38.9%	60.0%
Secondary (Yr9-15)	8	5	6	8	31.7%	31.8%
Sub-total-Secondary	10	10	13	13	33.9%	40.6%
TOTAL	209	179	207	207	48.7%	53.6%

 

School Type	Previous Members				Proportion who at some earlier time had been on a board		TOTAL
	2005		2008				2005		2008
	M	F	M	F	2005	2008	M	F	M	F
Full Primary	9	8	6	5	5.1%	3.5%	174	161	179	136
Contributing	10	5	8	11	4.9%	6.5%	170	137	144	148
Sub-total - Primary	19	13	14	16	5.0%	4.9%	345	298	323	284
Intermediate	7	5	6	3	20.3%	15.0%	32	27	33	27
Special	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%	0	2	1	0
Composite	4	0	4	0	14.3%	11.1%	16	12	17	19
Restricted Composite (Yr 7-10)	1	0	2	0	20.0%	50.0%	3	2	4	0
Sub-total - Composite	5	0	6	0	15.2%	15.0%	19	14	21	19
Secondary (Yr 7-15)	2	6	0	0	44.4%	0.0%	6	12	10	10
Secondary (Yr 9-15)	7	4	2	2	26.8%	9.1%	25	16	26	18
Sub-total - Secondary	9	10	2	2	32.2%	6.3%	31	28	36	28
TOTAL	40	28	28	21	8.6%	6.3%	426	369	414	358

 

Ethnicity of candidates

In 2008 majority of the candidates were NZ European / Pakeha consisting of 65% of the total candidates.

There was a small decline in the number of Māori candidates from 12.2% in 2005 to 11.4% in 2008. The same trend can be noticed in the Pasifika candidates that represented 2.9% in 2005 and 1.8% in 2008. There was a 0.3% increase in the number of Asian candidates from 1.4% in 2005 to 1.7% in 2008. Similarly the percentage of other European increased from 10.7% in 2005 to 13.6% in 2008.  Candidates in the other category increased from 2.5% to 3.9% in 2008.

Refer to Table 5⁶ for the ethnic comparison of candidates.

Tables 5 – Ethnic breakdown of candidates by School Type: 2005 vs. 2008 Mid-term comparison

School Type	Māori				Proportion Māori		Pasifika				Proportion Pasifika
	2005		2008				2005		2008
	M	F	M	F	2005	2008	M	F	M	F	2005	2008
Full Primary	17	34	7	23	15.2%	9.5%	1	4	2	0	1.5%	0.6%
Contributing	12	15	16	12	8.8%	9.6%	8	4	2	5	3.9%	2.4%
Sub-total - Primary	29	49	23	35	12.1%	9.6%	9	8	4	5	2.6%	1.5%
Intermediate	2	4	6	3	10.2%	15.0%	1	3	3	1	6.8%	6.7%
Special	0	0	1	0	0.0%	100.0%	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%
Composite	1	1	2	2	7.1%	11.1%	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%
Restricted Composite (Yr 7-10)	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%
Sub-total - Composite	1	1	2	2	6.1%	10.0%	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%
Secondary (Yr 7-15)	1	3	2	2	22.2%	20.0%	0	1	1	0	5.6%	5.0%
Secondary (Yr 9-15)	3	4	4	8	17.1%	27.3%	0	1	0	0	2.4%	0.0%
Sub-total - Secondary	4	7	6	10	18.6%	25.0%	0	2	1	0	3.4%	1.6%
TOTAL	36	61	38	50	12.2%	11.4%	10	13	8	6	2.9%	1.8%

 

School Type	Asian				Proportion Asian		NZ European / Pakeha				Proportion NZ European     / Pakeha
	2005		2008				2005		2008
	M	F	M	F	2005	2008	M	F	M	F	2005	2008
Full Primary	0	0	3	2	0.0%	1.6%	138	100	131	89	71.0%	69.8%
Contributing	2	6	5	1	2.6%	2.1%	121	94	99	88	70.0%	64.0%
Sub-total-Primary	2	6	8	3	1.2%	1.8%	259	194	230	177	70.6%	67.1%
Intermediate	1	0	1	0	1.7%	1.7%	21	16	14	18	62.7%	53.3%
Special	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%	0	2	0	0	100.0%	0.0%
Composite	0	0	0	1	0.0%	2.8%	13	9	11	15	78.6%	72.2%
Restricted Composite (Yr 7-10)	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%	3	1	4	0	80.0%	100.0%
Sub-total-Composite	0	0	0	1	0.0%	2.5%	16	10	15	15	78.8%	75.0%
Secondary (Yr 7-15)	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%	2	6	6	3	44.4%	45.0%
Secondary (Yr 9-15)	2	0	0	0	4.9%	0.0%	17	10	18	9	65.9%	61.4%
Sub-total-Secondary	2	0	0	0	3.4%	0.0%	19	16	24	12	59.3%	56.3%
TOTAL	5	6	9	4	1.4%	1.7%	315	238	283	222	69.6%	65.4%

 

School Type	Other European				Proportion     Other European		Other				Proportion Other		TOTAL
	2005		2008				2005		2008				2005		2008
	M	F	M	F	2005	2008	M	F	M	F	2005	2008	M	F	M	F
Full Primary	11	19	24	17	9.0%	13.0%	7	2	5	4	2.7%	2.9%	174	161	179	136
Contributing	19	14	17	33	10.7%	17.1%	6	4	4	7	3.3%	3.8%	170	137	144	148
Sub-total - Primary	30	33	41	50	9.8%	15.0%	13	6	9	11	3.0%	3.3%	344	298	323	284
Intermediate	6	3	3	3	15.3%	10.0%	0	1	4	2	1.7%	10.0%	32	27	33	27
Special	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%	0	2	1	0
Composite	2	2	2	1	14.3%	8.3%	0	0	1	0	0.0%	2.8%	16	12	17	19
Restricted Composite (Yr 7-10)	0	1	0	0	20.0%	0.0%	0	0	0	0	0.0%	0.0%	3	2	4	0
Sub-total - Composite	2	3	2	1	15.2%	7.5%	0	0	1	0	0.0%	2.5%	19	14	21	19
Secondary (Yr 7-15)	3	2	1	3	27.8%	20.0%	0	0	0	2	0.0%	10.0%	6	12	10	10
Secondary (Yr 9-15)	2	1	1	0	7.3%	2.3%	0	0	1	0	0.0%	2.3%	25	16	26	18
Sub-total - Secondary	5	3	2	3	13.6%	7.8%	0	0	1	2	0.0%	4.7%	31	28	36	28
TOTAL	43	42	48	57	10.7%	13.6%	13	7	15	15	2.5%	3.9%	426	369	414	358

 

Analysis of mid-term candidates compared to the school roll by ethnicity

In 2008 NZ European students constituted 63% of the total roll count⁷ which was the highest compared to other ethnicities.  For the 2008 mid-term elections NZ European candidates represented 1% of the NZ European roll count. Candidates in the ‘other’ category had the highest representation with 3% of the total ‘Other’ student roll count. They were followed by Other European at 2%. The lowest were Asian representing 0.2% of the Asian student roll count. 

Table 6 gives the Ethnic representation of candidates versus the students in schools.

Table 6⁸ - Ethnic Representation of Candidates vs. Student Roll

Māori				Pasifika				Asian
Student roll	Student roll	Mid -term Candidates	% of candidates compared to Student roll	Student roll	Student roll	Mid -term Candidates	% of candidates compared to Student roll	Student roll	Student roll	Mid -term Candidates	% of candidates compared to Student roll
13536	17%	88	1%	4533	6%	14	0.3%	5858	7%	13	0.2%
Other				Other European				NZ European
Student roll	Student roll	Mid -term Candidates	% of candidates compared to Student roll	Student roll	Student roll	Mid -term Candidates	% of candidates compared to Student roll	Student roll	Student roll	Mid -term Candidates	% of candidates compared to Student roll
1625	2%	47	3%	4271	5%	105	2%	49898	63%	504	1%

 

Footnotes

1. Four schools out of the 280 did not send their Appendix A or B.
   
2. For three of the schools that held a voting election in 2008 the numbers of forms posted out were unknown.
   
3. There was one school that had two positions but no nominations.
4. Table 3 includes Te One School with the regional council being Not Applicable as the area of the school is outside regional authority. This school had the highest ratio of candidates per position at 2.0.
   
5. Table 4 includes 10 candidates in the total figure that have not been represented as a single column. These candidates did not state their previous background.
6. Table 5 includes 17 candidates that are not represented as a separate column in the table. These candidates did not state their ethnicity.
   
7. Only schools participating in the 2008 mid-term elections have been taken into account for this section.
   
8. The percentage for the student roll is comparing that particular ethnicity to the total student roll count for these schools. The percentage of candidates by ethnicity is compared to the individual ethnic student roll count.
   
   

Related Pages on Education Counts

Other reports can be found on the Results of the School Boards of Trustees Elections index page.

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