The Federation of P&C Associations of NSW is planning to revise the Prescribed Constitution which is used by all P&C Associations incorporated under the Parents and Citizens Associations Incorporation Act 1976 No 50. The Prescribed Constitution was recently updated with respect to holding online meetings as an urgent response to the Covid-19 lockdown but both this change and many other aspects of the Prescribed Constitution are potentially subject to review and revision.
The objective is to create a new Prescribed Constitution which would be a standalone governing document for a P&C Association that, among other things, satisfies all of the requirements for a charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) and able to operate a deductible gift recipient School Building Fund (if the P&C Association operates such a fund) but would also enable flexibility, where appropriate, for P&C Associations that have specific needs and capabilities not fully supported by a generic constitution. The new Prescribed Constitution would continue to allow P&C Associations to adopt by-laws to supplement and tailor the P&C Association’s rules, within broad requirements specified in the Prescribed Constitution.
While it may be possible to create a new Prescribed Constitution that is able to operate without any accompanying by-laws, it is also proposed to create new model by-laws to accompany the new Prescribed Constitution. While not mandatory, the new model by-laws would be available as a base for P&C Associations wishing to develop and adopt by-laws.
As input to the development of a new Prescribed Constitution, the Federation of P&C Associations of NSW is inviting submissions from P&C Associations and other interested parties with respect to:
- Deficiencies or shortcomings of the current Prescribed Constitution
- Suggestions for improvements or changes to the provisions of the current Prescribed Constitution
- Suggestions for the new Prescribed Constitution
- Comments with respect to model by-laws, either current (as available on the P&C Federation’s website) or as should be written to accompany a new Prescribed Constitution
The current Prescribed Constitution and suggested by-laws are available on P&C Federation’s website at this link.
Submissions should be sent to comsupport@pandc.org.au by 15 August 2020.