New charter schools irresponsible

By approving four new charter schools the government is being reckless with public money and careless with our kids.

PPTA president Angela Roberts said the announcement of the new schools was “totally irresponsible” and would come at a huge cost to the existing school network.

Most of the areas earmarked for this experiment already had schools with spare places, Roberts said.

“Adding these schools into the mix will only hurt students in the surrounding schools,” she said.

Education minister Hekia Parata spoke about giving parents choice outside the mainstream system – but the mainstream system she spoke of included special character schools, kura and Maori immersion units, Roberts said.

“It will jeopardise what state schools are doing for the vulnerable students she claims to want to help.

“Freedom of choice has been proven by the OECD to do nothing for student achievement,” she said.

Introducing the new schools was financially irresponsible and against the Ministry of Education’s own plans, Roberts said.

“Small schools are incredibly expensive to run. The ministry’s own long-term policy is to have fewer, larger schools. This is an ineffectual and inefficient use of resources and completely counter to the government’s own plans,” she said.

Through today’s announcement the National Party has confirmed charter schools are part of its agenda.

“This is not just fringe ACT Party policy anymore. They are claiming it as their own and will have to own it when it goes horribly wrong,” she said.

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