Proposed changes to the way small schools operate will result in a loss of autonomy and financial security says the president of Borenore Public School P&C Jason Vials.

Mr Vials said the radical changes will mean small schools such as Borenore are matched with larger schools in the area resulting in key financial and organisational decisions being made by the principal of the larger school.

In other proposed changes, the small schools could lose their  principals, with the day-to-day operation handled by a lead teacher.

Mr Vials has called an emergency meeting for families and staff from the small schools community to discuss the proposed changes and their implications.

“The meeting is to explain what’s proposed and formulate an action plan,” Mr Vials said.

“We’re concerned that we’ll lose our funding and that it will just go into a pool at the larger school.

“We really don’t know how much will go from this pool to the satellite schools.”

Mr Vials said he had already spoken to a number of small school principals and P & C members in the Orange area.

“This isn’t just about parents and students, the school is the hub of the community,” he said.

Mr Vials said Borenore P&C, like many other small school P&Cs, was particularly active when it came to fundraising and ensuring its school was well-resourced.

“A lot of time, effort and money has gone into making Borenore one of the best schools in the state so we’re concerned about seeing this allocated to a larger canvas.

“It’s just white-anting small schools.”

Tonight’s meeting will be held at Borenore Public School, on the Forbes Road, at 7pm.

Several other P & Cs at small schools in the area are planning meetings in the coming week to discuss the proposed changes.

A Department of Education and Communities spokesperson said the department had started negotiations with the NSW Teachers’ Federation for a new school teachers’ award, effective from January next year.

“As part of the discussions, some teaching principals have indicated that they need more time away from face-to-face teaching, due to their workload outside of the classroom,” the spokesperson said.

“A model has been suggested whereby students and school communities would benefit if some smaller school principals were able to spend more time in the classroom and less time on administrative and management activities. 

“This may also mean that principals in some larger schools would become non-teaching.”

The spokesperson said the department had only just started negotiations with the Teachers’ Federation and there were no outcomes at this stage.

The spokesperson also said schools would not be left out of any decision-making process when it came to forming relationships with larger schools in the area.

“Part of the [Rural and Remote Education Blueprint for Action] strategy is supporting rural and remote schools to collaborate in the development of an education strategy that best meets the needs of their school communities,” the spokesperson said.

From next year education networks will see schools working together and jointly sharing and managing their resources to deliver quality learning to their students,” the spokesperson said.

“The decision to form a network will be made by school principals and their local communities, in consultation with Directors of Public Schools NSW and the Directors  of Educational Services,”the spokesperson said.