School district (Arab Union)

In the Arab Union, the school district (Arabic: المنطقة التعليمية al-minṭaqah at-ta‘līmīyah) constitutes the basic local unit within the national K–12 public school system. The National Directorate of Public Education (informally NatPubEd), an agency of the Ministry of Education, school board, whose chairperson is state-appointed—an election is held within six months, and every two years thereafter, in which all parents and legal guardians of at least one child under 18 may vote; each casts a ballot list of nine candidates ranked from most to least preferred, and the nine most voted for are appointed to the school board, the most popular (highest average rank) becoming chairperson of the school board. Similarly to councils (local governments), the chairperson appoints a professional manager to directly oversee school board functions (ie. administration, HR, janitorial, maintenance), allowing the chair to focus on moderating deliberation upon and development of school board policy. While school districts are mostly autonomous concerning routine operation of local schools, there is a single national curriculum developed and set by the Ministry of Education, which school boards are required to implement more or less uniformly. Budgeting is the duty of school boards, while funding is provided by the Ministry—each school board sets, and submits to the Ministry, its budget for the upcoming school year, which reflects projected operating, maintenance, personnel (and, if applicable, building/facility improvement, renovation and development) expenses, after which the Ministry deposits budget total to each school board account at new school year's start, which the school board's Accounting Department distributes throughout the year in accordance with the budget. While school boards recruit, train and compensate their staff, they do not set salaries nor control labour standard minimums, with contracts negotiated and agreed upon between the Ministry of Education and the National Public Educators' Syndicate, National Syndicate of State Administrators and Public Workers, All-Union Athletic Coaches' Association and other relevant trade unions.