Sweeping changes to our education laws proposed by the government, ostensibly aimed at broadening access to quality schooling, are likely to have the opposite effect. The former Model C schools - which are governed, and partly funded, by parents - appear to the be the primary target of the envisaged changes.The Sunday Times reported that Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga outlined the envisaged changes to the SA Schools Act, and the Employment of Educators Act, during a recent meeting with seven associations of school governing bodies.Chief among the proposals is that governing bodies of public schools would be stopped from recommending candidates for appointment as principals, deputy principals and heads of department. Instead this power would vest with the head of the provincial education department - a situation reminiscent of that obtaining during the apartheid era.The final decision on whether to admit a pupil would also lie with the provincial education head, as would the power to order a school to adopt more than one language of instruction if the number of pupils speaking the currently used language dropped, or if the change promoted ''social cohesion''. The provincial head would also have the power to ask the auditor-general to audit a public school's financial statements.The audit proposal might be broadly supported - the finances of several schools have been called into question in recent months - but curbing the powers of school governing bodies generally is a very bad idea.There are surely better ways of improving access to quality schooling.Strong, vibrant schools supported by parents are a ray of light in our embattled public schooling sector. Removing the incentive for parents to get involved in their children's education, and contribute financially, will speed up the exodus to private schools...