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The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has handed down a potentially far-reaching ruling upholding the Western Cape’s authority to legislate for new models for public schools, including those that draw on private sector expertise to improve school governance and management.Last week the SCA dismissed the legal challenges brought by the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) and the nonprofit Equal Education (EE) to amendments to the Western Cape Provincial Schools Education Act. These reforms had enabled the establishment of collaboration and donor-funded public schools, intervention facilities for learners found guilty of serious misconduct and an independent schools evaluation authority.The ruling not only means the Western Cape can press ahead with its “collaboration school” model but also paves the way for other provinces to bring in nonstate actors to improve the performance of public schools, said DG Murray Trust CEO David Harrison.The DG Murray Trust has worked closely with the Western Cape education department to pilot collaboration schools, which give nonprofit school operating partners 50% representation on school governing bodies. The model uses donor funding to appoint additional staff and introduces close monitoring of curriculum delivery. Harrison welcomed the judgment, saying it would enable innovation in the public education system. “The most significant part of the ruling is that it [says] the South African Schools Act was not meant to be taken as a template that is invariable. It allows the development of models [for] public schools that go beyond those described in the act,” he said. There are 11 collaboration schools in the Western Cape. The most recent evaluation found the academic performance of participating high schools showed a significant and sustained improvement, said Harrison. For example, the matric pass rate at Silikamva High School in Hout Bay improved from 40% in 2019 to 100% in 2025. The SCA judgment followed an appeal brought by EE and Sadtu against a Western Cape High Court ruling in 2023 that upheld the legality of provisions in the Western Cape Provincial Schools Education Act permitting new models of public schools. The legislation also allowed these schools to deviate from the rules for the constitution of school governing bodies set out in the South African Schools Act. Sadtu and EE argued that these variations violated the South African Schools Act and undermined parents’ democratic participation in schools, even if school governing bodies had agreed to become a collaboration school. The SCA found that the constitution permitted the national and provincial governments to legislate in education, as it is a concurrent competence. It held that collaboration schools and donor-funded schools were public schools, but not ordinary public schools of the type contemplated by the South African Schools Act, and that provincial education departments could therefore pass laws to establish these kinds of institutions. The Western Cape education department welcomed the ruling, saying it had consistently maintained that its reforms were lawful, constitutional and firmly focused on advancing the best interests of learners.“The judgment confirms that collaboration schools and donor-funded schools can operate within the existing legislative framework while also recognising the positive role played by the Western Cape Schools Evaluation Authority in supporting educational quality and accountability,” it said. Sadtu Western Cape spokesperson Sibongile Kwazi said the union was disappointed with the outcome of the case. She declined to comment further as Sadtu’s legal team was still studying the judgment. Equal Education was not immediately available to comment. Business Day
