# Education Act 1944 (repealed 1.11.1996), Section 15: Classification of voluntary schools as controlled schools, aided schools, or special agreement schools. Extent: E+W (1) Voluntary schools shall be of three categories, that is to say, controlled schools, aided schools, and special agreement schools, and in schools of those several categories the management of the school, the secular instruction and religious education, and the appointment and dismissal of teachers, shall be regulated in accordance with the provisions hereinafter contained relating to those matters in controlled schools aided schools and special agreement schools respectively. (2) Upon application being duly made to him with respect to any voluntary school, the Secretary of State for Education and Science may by order direct that the school shall be a controlled school an aided school or a special agreement school, and where he is satisfied that the . . . or governors of the school will be able and willing, with the assistance of grants under section 281 of the Education Act 1993, to defray the expenses which would fall to be borne by them under paragraph (a) of the next following subsection, the order shall direct that the school shall be an aided school, or, in the case of a school with respect to which a special agreement has been made under the Third Schedule to this Act, a special agreement school: Provided that, subject to the provisions of this section, any application under this section for an order directing that a school shall be an aided school or a special agreement school must be made, in the case of a school which became a voluntary school by virtue of subsection (3) of section nine of this Act not later than six months after the date on which the . . . governors of the school received notice of the approval of the development plan for the area, and in any other case not later than the submission to the Secretary of State for Education and Science of the proposals that the school should be maintained by the local education authority as a voluntary school; and, subject to the transitional provisions of this Act as to the management and maintenance of voluntary schools, a voluntary school with respect to which no order is in force under this section or section 54 of the Education (No.2) Act 1986 directing that it shall be an aided school or a special agreement school shall be a controlled school. (3) The . . . governors of a controlled school shall not be responsible for any of the expenses of maintaining the school, but the following provisions shall have effect with respect to the maintenance of aided schools and special agreement schools: (a) the following expenses shall be payable by the . . . governors of the school, that is to say, the expenses of discharging any liability incurred by them or on their behalf or by or on behalf of any former . . . governors of the school or any trustees thereof in connection with the provision of premises or equipment for the purposes of the school; any expenses incurred in effecting such alterations to the school buildings as may be required by the local education authority for the purpose of securing that the school premises should conform to the prescribed standards, and any expenses incurred in effecting repairs to the school buildings not being repairs which are excluded from their responsibility by the following paragraph: (b) the . . . governors of the school shall not be responsible for repairs to the interior of the school buildings, or for repairs to those buildings necessary in consequence of the use of the school premises, in pursuance of any direction or requirement of the authority, for purposes other than those of the school. (4) If at any time the . . . governors of an aided school or a special agreement school are unable or unwilling to carry out their obligations under paragraph (a) of the last foregoing subsection, it shall be their duty to apply to the Secretary of State for Education and Science for an order revoking the order by virtue of which the school is an aided school or a special agreement school, and upon such an application being made to him the Secretrary of State for Education and Science shall revoke the order. (4A) For the purposes of subsection (4) of this section, the governors of an aided school or a special agreement school shall not be regarded as unable to carry out their obligations under subsection (3)(a) of this section if they are able to carry them out with the benefit of assistance under section 282(1) of the Education Act 1993 (power of local education authority to give assistance). (5) If at any time the Secretary of State for Education and Science is satisfied that the grant made in respect of a special agreement school in pursuance of the special agreement made with respect to the school under this Act has been repaid to the local education authority by which the school is maintained, the Secretary of State for Education and Science shall, upon application being made to him for that purpose by the . . . governors of the school, by order revoke the order by virtue of which the school is a special agreement school and, if satisfied that the . . . governors of the school will be able and willing, with the assistance of grants under section 281 of the Education Act 1993, to defray the expenses which would fall to be borne by them under paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of this section, shall by order direct that the school shall be an aided school. (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . --- Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/7-8/31/section/15 (the official version) Page: https://openlegislation.uk/education-act-1944-repealed-1111996/section-15 Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.