Beyond PMSA "The Movie" has arrived

Dear Supporters, Beyond PMSA ‘The Movie’ has finally arrived !

It contains important information on the new governance structure that Beyond PMSA are proposing. Please TURN UP THE VOLUME and click on the following link to view the FULL ‘feature length’ movie:

[https://video.wixstatic.com/video/437c0d_cbc98e038cfe452498d98b374ef2baf2/360p/mp4/file.mp4].

OUR PROPOSAL FOR A BENEFICIAL AND CONSTRUCTIVE ‘FUTURE STATE’ GOVERNANCE MODEL

Most of you would be aware of the extensive work that Beyond PMSA has been undertaking in recent months to push for the much deeper and critical governance reforms that are necessary to ensure the future of PMSA Schools. We lodged a Supplementary Application with the Office of Fair Trading (part of the Department of Justice and Attorney General) in late February which (in addition to setting out our claims with regard to the problems associated with the PMSA continuing to operate under Letters Patent) also set out a very extensive and constructive Proposal for a modern ‘Future State’ governance design for PMSA Schools. That structure will deliver ENHANCED ORGANISATIONAL BENEFITS. It will EMBED what is sadly lacking in the current governance structure (and something that can NEVER be delivered out of the current reform agenda) - TRUST.

Our Proposal is simple. It involves:

1. The PMSA becoming incorporated as a Corporation Limited by Guarantee under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), (with 100% ownership retained by the Churches);

1. Each School becoming separately incorporated as Corporations Limited by Guarantee (with 100% ownership by the PMSA);

1. Each School Foundation remaining separately incorporated as Corporations Limited by Guarantee; and

1. Each of the Past Students Associations and P&F’s becoming Incorporated Associations under the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 (Qld).

There is a little more to it than just the above, but this structure is NOT new, untested or scary. It is the model upon which a great many successful Independent Schools across Australia operate (including, ironically, quite a number of Presbyterian Church owned schools).

Our structure would deliver authentic operational control to qualified School Boards, would maintain ownership and control of the Churches and the PMSA at a strategic level, and would improve business and educational outcomes across the Board. It would clearly establish PURPOSE, ROLES and RESPONSIBILITIES within and between all levels of the PMSA Group. Its not threatening. It makes logical business and commercial sense.

This is NOT taking away ownership or control from the PMSA – its asking them to move towards a “different” form of control – a more strategic and authentic form of control that can encourage collaboration and continuous organisational improvement on a scale that is simply NOT possible under the current “delegations” model defined by Letters Patent. Why? Well when you take the current ownership “liability” constraints of Letters Patent out of the equation – SO MUCH MORE IS POSSIBLE FOR OUR SCHOOLS.

The broad benefits of this structure (and there are MANY) are set out in detail in the Proposal attached to our recent Supplementary Application which you can read by clicking on the attached link: [Supplementary Application].

SO WHY ARE PMSA SCHOOLS BEING DENIED THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXAMINE A MORE SUCCESSFUL GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE?

It is because of one continuing and disturbing theme that wont go away: PRIDE ! PRIDE is continuing to threaten the future of our schools.

It seems that if the idea doesn’t come from the PMSA or the Churches, then its not worth considering – even if it has merit. (Even less so if it comes from a body like Beyond PMSA which represents over 4,500 members of its own pesky community). Well, we have a hard truth to convey on that front – the community isn’t waiting on the PMSA and the Churches to be the ‘sole’ fountain of all solutions to the problems besetting our schools. That’s just vanity !

Our Proposal has merit. Yes, there is work to do in order to implement it, but the task is NOT insurmountable. All that is required of the PMSA and Churches is to put PRIDE aside and:

1. To take proper OBJECTIVE (non-legal) advice on the broader organisational and BUSINESS BENEFITS to PMSA Schools of continuing down their present trajectory versus moving to the model that we propose;

1. To pull back from trying to embed excessive and COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE ‘controls’ at every level within the broader PMSA Group;

1. To stop doing things in reverse-order and “burying” themselves in the minutia of inefficient organisational navel – gazing; and

1. To unequivocally commit to AND CLEARLY COMMUNICATE and ‘end point’ on this important issue.

DON’T BE FOOLED BY WHAT THE CURRENT REFORM AGENDA “PRETENDS” TO DELIVER !

Authentic operational control can NEVER be authentically devolved to our schools under the current ‘delegations’ structure proposed by the PMSA and the Churches. The current reform trajectory will never be the ‘shot in the arm’ that our schools need to bounce back. It is LAZY reform that has one of only two possible motivations and objectives :

1. Completely ignoring community concerns around this important issue; or

1. Putting ‘distance’ between current calls for reform and any decision being made to finally move toward a more modern and trustworthy governance structure.

If it’s the former, then that is an absolutely unforgivable dereliction of duty to PMSA Schools. If it is the latter, then it is pure bloody-mindedness and negligent. Either motivation places PMSA Schools at significant and continuing market risk.

We need a decisive boost to market sentiment NOW in order to drive a genuine recovery from the disastrous effects of PMSA actions in 2017 and the equally disastrous and drawn-out organisational response that has followed. The only way that this will occur is through an immediate and MATERIALLY DECISIVE reform announcement that meets modern community expectations. Our Proposal would deliver that.

Absent a common sense approach to proper structural reform, the only current alternative to resolving the issue appears to be Beyond PMSA’s request to the Attorney-General and the Office of Fair Trading to let the Auditor-General to ‘objectively’ decide whether the PMSA is being “authentic” in its message to the community about the current position of PMSA Schools and their likely trajectory under the current reform agenda.

THANK YOU FOR THE HUGE AMOUNT OF CONTINUING SUPPORT

Finally, thank you for the HUGE amount of continuing support that we are receiving for pursuing this important outcome for our Schools. Your messages of support and offers of assistance are heartening. We know that many of you have always formed the silent majority, often preferring not to be ‘visible’ with your support via direct posts, but the huge volume of ‘click-throughs’ that we regularly get on our Facebook posts and web-page tell the true story of your interest in this issue – and one which the PMSA ought to bear in mind if they think community support has waned. It hasn’t.

Please support our constructive Proposal for authentic governance reform and continue to make YOUR voice heard !

We are not going away.

Beyond PMSA