Criticism of the Municipal Executive Board in Nyköping municipality for failing to ensure that the municipality’s school units comply with the Education Act

Summary of the decision: In a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, complaints were made against Nyköping municipality on the grounds that the way schools are organised allows head teachers to make decisions on unlawful grounds, which cannot be appealed, to move pupils between schools within the same school unit.

It follows from Chapter 1, paragraph 3 of the Education Act that a school unit is a unit comprising activities in one or more school buildings located close to each other. Under Chapter 2, paragraph 10 of the Education Act, a head teacher may decide on the internal organisation of their unit and is responsible for allocating resources within the unit. A decision taken by the head teacher of this kind cannot be appealed.

The Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman states that within Nyköping municipality, there are school units with school buildings that are not located close to each other and which therefore should not be school units under Chapter 1, paragraph 3 of the Education Act. A serious consequence of this is that legal guardians do not have the right to appeal decisions involving pupils moving between schools within the same unit. The Municipal Executive Board is criticised for not ensuring that the organisation of schools complies with the rules on school units in the Education Act.