Catholic schools in Victoria, in general, are responsible and accountable to their students, parents, their local Catholic community, their Bishop and to both the Victorian and Federal governments. The most important of these responsibilities is to the parents of the students placed in our school's care.
Our schools are responsible for their own student enrolments, for setting the level of school fees and for the employment of staff.
The following extract from the National Catholic Education Commission's Catholic School Governance statement outlines the governance of Catholic schools under Canon Law.
Canon Law
- In Canon Law, Catholic schools operate under the jurisdiction of an ecclesiastical public juridic person, in practice either an (arch) diocese or a religious institute or parish. In the case of a diocese, the bishop is the canonical administrator of that diocese, while in the case of a religious institute, the congregational leader is the canonical administrator. In the case of parish schools, the parish priest is the canonical administrator of the parish and the works of the parish. The public juridic person under whose jurisdiction a school operates, may change over time, as in the case where a diocese assumes direct jurisdiction over a school originally established by a religious institute.
- The relationship between the relevant public juridic person and a school is the primary governance feature of that school, and a school board derives its existence and role from that relationship. Naturally, the manner in which the relationship between a public juridic person and a school may be expressed or mediated in practice is diverse, and varies from diocese to diocese and from religious institute to religious institute.
- It should be noted here that the relationship between a public juridic person and a school is not one based simply upon property, but is fundamentally spiritual in character. Especially where a public juridic person is a religious institute, it may or may not own all or some of the property used by the school, However, such a religious institute invariably would deeply influence the special spirituality of that school.
National Catholic Education Commission 2002, Catholic School Governance,
p. 7.