About Policies and Regulations Generally the role of a board of education is to set policy and the role of the administration is to implement it through regulations. Here are definitions set forth by the National School Boards Association which provide a distinction between these two types of statements: Policies are principles adopted by the Board to chart a course of action. They tell what is wanted and may include why and how much. They are broad enough to indicate a line of action to be taken by the administration in meeting a number of day after day problems; they need to be narrow enough to give the administration clear guidance. Regulations are detailed directions developed by the administration to put policy into practice. They tell how, by whom, where and when things are to be done. These definitions are serviceable some of the time. They reflect sound theory of governance and administration. But the real world does not always conform. For example: State and federal governments require boards of education to make or officially approve detailed regulations and procedures in certain areas. A board signs contracts and agreements which may contain and interweave policies, regulations and procedural detail. The public, staff or board members may demand that the Board itself, not the administration, establish specific regulations and procedures in certain sensitive areas. It is the intermingling of policy and regulations in law, in contracts, in adopted statements of the Board that causes trouble. Sometimes they are not easily separated. Therefore the separation of policies and regulations in this manual follows several "rules of thumb" in addition to "basic theory": When the school district's practice in a particular area is established by law, any informational statement covering the practice is presented as "policy." (A law, of course, may be quoted or referred to in a regulation.) Where the Board has interwoven regulations with policy and where separation would do harm to the meaning of both, the entire statement is presented as policy. Where the Board has adopted rules and by-laws concerning its own organizational and operating procedures, these statements appear as policy. As long as the administration operates within the guidelines of general policy adopted by the Board, it may change regulations without prior Board approval unless Board action is required by law or unless the Board has specifically asked that a particular regulation be given Board approval. The Board, of course, should be kept informed of regulations issued by the administration.

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