D.Ed. / The individual's right to basic education is entrenched by Section 29 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Section 12 of the 1996 Schools' Act compels the state and each of the nine provinces to provide public schools out of funds provided for that purpose by the provincial legislature. Education is therefore a right and the state is compelled to provide the education. The constant growth in the demand for education and the amending of educational problems inherited from the apartheid era, have a substantial impact on available state and provincial financial resources. Education is expensive and the state contribution to education is dwindling, due to the enormous demands made by other state responsibilities. The Legislator has, through founding and implementing the system of governing bodies (Sections 20 and 21 of the SASA of 1996), handed the responsibility of education in the community, and the governance of and control over such education, to the parents. In the school the principal is the professional manager of education and is accountable to the local education authority. Individuals from the community, possessing certain skills and competencies, are needed to make the system of governing bodies work. The skills and competencies needed from the community, are those the schools lack, such as business experience, and financial expertise. The necessary personal experience and qualities are easy to come by in the more advanced middle class and upper class communities. The poor and less advanced communities suffer from a lack of higher order skills and competencies. These communities are not -iionly poor in materiality, but also poor with regard to skills, competencies and business experience. The control over the school's finances is one of the more sensitive areas when discussing the control responsibility to be exercised by the governing body. The principal, as professional manager of the school, is also the administrative manager. His duties include the managing of the school fund. The responsibility of the governing body is to make sure that the school fund is managed optimally so that learners, parents and community benefit.

The problem in this study lies in the school governing body`s lack of understanding their role in financial administration at Sokisi Secondary School (not its real name). This led to them spending money on the things that were not budgeted for, as well as ensuring the smooth running of the school. The purpose of this study was to help the School Governing Body members to know their functions and also to know how to manage the school’s budget. The qualitative research methodology was chosen for this study. The data collection strategy used was interviews. Six governing body members were interviewed, observed and recorded. The findings in this research were that the School Governing Body members knew that for them to manage the budget efficiently, they must have a sound financial policy. The researcher also discovered that the governing body members had little knowledge of what was expected from them because they were not trained. Concepts such as financial administration and financial planning were discussed. / Dr. B.V. Nduna