Trevor Mallard

Parents should think carefully before deciding to run for Boards of Trustees, Labour's Education spokesperson Trevor Mallard said today.

"Anne Tolley is today launching a campaign to encourage people to run for boards. Normally I would be very supportive, but we are not in normal times," Trevor Mallard said.

"School Boards of Trustees are a key part of our education system. "However, over the next couple of years Boards are likely to be caught between assessment experts, academics, principals, teachers, parents and a Minister of Education with a very poor understanding of what is currently happening in schools, who has cut $95m from teaching and professional development budgets and is insisting on reducing standards against which students are assessed and the quality of reporting below that most schools do at the moment.

"It will be a much harder job than previously. "I'm not saying don't run. But I am saying take care, think carefully," Trevor Mallard said.