Education Minister Chris Hipkins has defended the official end to Kiwi charter schools after months of deliberation, saying a lack of security in their privately funded model meant they could be "closed at the drop of the hat".
Speaking on TVNZ 1's Breakfast, Mr Hipkins was confident the beneficial aspects of charter schools would be retained as six of them were transitioned into designated character schools this year.
"The issue is we didn't agree with the charter school model. The charter school model is effectively a privatised, deregulated form of schooling," Mr Hipkins said.
"The fact that we had a problem with the model doesn't mean we had a problem with some of the existing schools that were operating under that model."
Advocates for charter schools have argued their model has provided positive outcomes for students who didn't do well in the conventional state schooling model.
"I want to make sure the state school system is providing every young New Zealander with the opportunities that they need to achieve to their full potential, whatever that might be," Mr Hipkins said.
"I don't agree with the previous government's decision that people who weren't succeeding in the public education system should effectively be turfed out of it and have to rely on charity providers, or private providers. I actually think we should make sure that the public education system is doing the job it's there to do."
Mr Hipkins said some of the existing charter schools had even attempted to become designated character schools, but due to the difficulties put in place they resorted to the easier charter model.
The Education Minister said the Government's primary issue with charter schools was the lack of security they provided for students' ongoing education.
"The opposition that we've got is to a privatised and deregulated form of schooling where kids can show up in schools that can be closed at the drop of a hat, that don't have registered, qualified teachers," he said.
"If you look at one of the schools for example, that I haven't been able to make a decision on, it's because they're in leased premises and the lease is about to expire in the middle of a school year.
"So those kids could end up, even before this Government made any decisions about that, with nowhere to go to school. That's not the kind of education system that I want to operate."
However, former undersecretary for charter schools while he was in Government, ACT leader David Seymour, said the changes Mr Hipkins has put in place with charter schools were largely a "huge waste of everyone's time" and ultimately motivated by Labour's 'union backing".
'THREAT TO THE UNIONS'
"The Labour Party's inextricably linked with the unions and these schools were succeeding and they were doing it without union contracts. That was a threat to the unions and therefore the Labour Party," Mr Seymour said.
"Why shouldn't you be able to set up a school with a different employment contract if that helps you achieve the goals of better educating kids. That's what charter schools have lost in this change, and that was the Government's political priority due to their union backing."
Mr Hipkins also explained the reasons for three additional charter schools still remaining in limbo, with no decision on whether they would survive by being transitioned into designated character schools.
The future of one of these schools depended on a new lease for their premises to be secured, after the existing school buildings changed landlords, Mr Hipkins said.
"I can't open a school, or operate a school, where there are no facilities for it to operate from," he said.
"And I think that's one of the weaknesses of the model that these schools are often operating from short termed leased premises without the stability and security that these young people actually deserve."
A decision on these existing three New Zealand charter schools will be made by September this year.
SHARE ME