Summary

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.