Schools should be held to account by local education trusts that answer to councils, according to the Local Government Association.
The LGA said its proposal would streamline the current system, with schools in any one area working together to create a single point of contact for parents.
Councils are responsible for 84% of schools but do not have the necessary powers to hold them to account, it said. On top of that, there are 3,500 academies and free schools accountable to Whitehall, when the Government itself admits ‘it lacks the capacity and local knowledge to provide oversight’.
This creates a confusing situation for parents, said the LGA, and acts as a barrier to driving school improvement.
Under the LGA’s plans, local education trusts would vary from area to area but all would be accountable to their local authority.
Cllr David Simmonds, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said: ‘Every child deserves a good education at a local school and establishing education trusts will empower councils to ensure this happens across their local area.
‘The current two-tier system of accountability is confusing for mums and dads to navigate and with different organisations responsible for different elements of education, there are too many possibilities for issues raised by mums and dads to slip through the net.
‘Education trusts would strip away this bureaucracy and provide an easily-identifiable place which parents can turn to. Someone has to take responsibility for the accountability of schools and with local knowledge and links to the community councils are ideally placed to take this role on their education trust.’
The proposal is included in a new report from the LGA – Investing In Our Nation’s Future, The First 100 Days of The Next Government – which outlines a series of measures designed to tackle key issues and save £11bn.
Cllr Simmonds said the education trusts would ‘bring a shift away from the tick box culture of Ofsted inspections by fostering peer support and reviews which will drive school improvement’.
He added: ‘Councils will be in a position to intervene should there be a problem but otherwise, through mutual support, we see no reason why there cannot be a shift away from Ofsted inspections to peer support and enabling the profession to deliver for children and mums and dads.
‘If the next government commits to our plans, all parents will get a place in a good local school for their child by the end of the next Parliament.’
