David SHEARER
Labour Leader
29 July 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT
Labour will repeal charter schools legislation
Labour will repeal the legislation allowing the creation of charter schools immediately upon becoming government, Labour
Leader David Shearer said today.
The National government is expected to announce candidates for the first charter schools this week.
“Charter schools won’t be good for education. They won’t have to have registered teachers, won’t have to teach to the
curriculum and won’t be subject to the same accountability as state schools.
“They are an ideological experiment inflicted on the country as the result of a dodgy cup of tea deal between John Banks
and John Key.
“Labour has been working with groups in the education sector to draft a Bill repealing recent Education Act changes that
allow charter schools to be established.
“We’re not going to wait until we’re in government to get to work on this, we’ll be ready to go on day one.
“I’ll be releasing a draft Bill soon, but in the meantime I want to send a clear signal to anyone considering
establishing a charter school that there is no future for them when Labour returns to government.
“Any government that I lead will make decisions in education based on what’s best for kids and learning. The charter
schools experiment fails at the first hurdle.”
ENDS