Some 13.3m has been made available in 1998-99 to pay for school building repairs and security improvements. Six hundred schools were due to benefit, but there is a huge backlog of essential repairs in Welsh schools, running into hundreds of millions of pounds. At the same time, teaching unions are asking for substantial pay rises to boost recruitment. Governing bodies All publicly-maintained schools have a governing body, which is usually made up of a number of parent representatives, the headteacher and serving teachers, and governors appointed by the local education authority or church authorities. Schools can also appoint up to four ''sponsor governors'' from the business world, who are expected to provide financial and managerial assistance.
Governors are responsible for the main policy decisions within schools, including academic matters.
They also shoulder responsibility for school discipline, and the appointment and dismissal of staff. Governing bodies are responsible for implementing the recommendations of inspection reports, and are required to make those reports and their resulting action plans available to parents.