It is the responsibility of the Board of Education to develop policy that governs the District beyond the compliance with state and federal laws. Portage Public Schools follows a Policy Governance Model® developed by Dr. John Carver. Policies are divided into four sections:

Ends Statements- Are the long range objectives of Portage Public Schools. The Board employs the Superintendent to work toward achieving these objectives.
Executive Limitations- Are the Board’s expectations of circumstances and conditions the Superintendent and the District must avoid while working to accomplish the long-range goals defined in the Ends statements. These expectations are detailed as policies.
Governance Process/Ownership Linkage Commitment- Is how the Board defines its expectations of itself and how it will govern through the policies.
Board-Superintendent Linkage- The working relationship between the Board and the Superintendent and Staff.

The Superintendent has the responsibility, in conjunction with District staff, to establish guidelines and processes to implement these policies. The Superintendent will produce a Monitoring Report for each policy contained in sections 1 and 2 of the manual. The Board will produce monitoring reports relative to the policies in sections 3 and 4. These reports are intended to demonstrate compliance with policy and will be generated at least once a year.

The Governance Policy Manual is a working document that the Board will continually examine and revise as needed.

In addition to the policies, the Board of Education Bylaws and Operational Policies provide overriding definitions of Board membership and Board operational protocols.