Charter schools in New Zealand


Charter schools in New Zealand, also known as partnership schools or kura hourua, were schools that received government funding similar to state schools but were subject to fewer rules and regulations from the Ministry of Education. They are free and open for any students to attend. Charter schools had the autonomy to set their own curriculum, qualifications, pay rates for teachers, school-hours and school terms. The schools were operated by sponsors such as Māori Iwi, not-for-profit organisations, businesses or existing education providers.
Charter schools were legalized after an agreement between the National Party and the ACT Party following the 2011 general election. In October 2012, the controversial Education Amendment Bill creating charter schools passed with a five-vote majority. The Charter School model was heavily criticized by a wide range of educational authorities, teacher organizations, the general public and political parties who vowed to overturn it.
In late October 2017, the newly-formed Labour-led coalition government announced that it would be abolishing charter schools. This announcement triggered mixed responses with teaching unions supporting the Government while charter schools and the opposition National and ACT parties opposing the announcement. In response to protests, Prime Minister Ardern and the Māori Labour MPs Education Minister Kelvin Davis and Willie Jackson have suggested that charter schools could convert to "special character" schools. By September 2018, all twelve remaining charter schools had successfully transitioned to become state integrated schools.

Organizational structure and oversight

Partnership Schools in New Zealand come under the oversight of an independent Authorisation Board, appointed by the Minister of Education. The Board advises the Minister on which applications should be considered for contracts. The Board is also responsible for monitoring the educational performance and achievement progress of the Partnership Schools. On 22 February 2018 the Authorisation Board's chair Catherine Isaac announced that the entire Authorisation Board would be resigning in protest of the Labour-led coalition government's decision to abolish the Partnership School model.

List of former Partnership Schools

As of September 2019, all twelve existing charter schools had converted into state integrated or special character schools. These schools are listed below.

Origins

In 1989, the Fourth Labour Government reformed the state school system in what was known as the "Tomorrow's Schools" reforms. Blaming the amount of centralised bureaucracy for slipping school standards, the government disestablished the Department of Education, replacing it with the smaller Ministry of Education and moving the governance of state schools to their individual school communities. Since the Education Act 1877, the New Zealand public primary schooling system has been free and secular with provision for private religious schools. In 1935, secondary school education was made free by the First Labour Government. State schools are crown entities, meaning they are government-owned and retain the strong governmental and parliamentary oversight and control in common with other New Zealand crown entities. State schools are the most common in New Zealand.
Apart from the numerous State schools there are several variations on the Tomorrow's Schools model, the largest of which is state-integrated schools. State-integrated schools are parochial schools or private schools that have been "integrated" into the state school system under the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975, usually because they have run into financial difficulty. These schools are run the same as state schools, but they are allowed to retain their special character. Proprietors of the school own the integrated school facilities and sit on the school's board of trustees, but they do not receive government funds to maintain separation of church and state, and subsequently require parents to pay "attendance dues" for upkeep of the facilities. Kura Kaupapa schools are state run schools with heavy emphasis on learning Maori language and culture but having most of the features of normal state schools. In addition there are fee paying private schools which receive limited funding from the state. Most follow the national curriculum or internationally recognized variations.

Legislative implementation

Following the 2011 general election, the National Party, in return for confidence and supply, announced it would pick up an ACT party policy of setting up charter schools in southern Auckland and eastern Christchurch within three years. This followed the appointment of Lesley Longstone as the new Secretary of Education, who had experience in England with charter schools, although Longstone resigned in November 2012 after falling out with Education Minister Hekia Parata over the error-ridden Novopay payroll system. The National-ACT alliance intended to set up charter schools as alternatives to state schools. Schools would be operated by private businesses or organisations and would be directly accountable for performance to the organizations running them. The schools would receive state funding and private donations, but have the same freedoms as private schools in matters such as in setting the curriculum, length of the school year and teachers' pay. Teaching staff would also not have to be registered or even formally trained. Charter schools would still be subject to triennial external reviews by ERO, and the government would still have the power to intervene if there are serious problems, either taking over from the sponsor for a period of time or sacking them altogether. Unlike state schools, charter schools would not be subject to either Ombudsman scrutiny or the Official Information Act 1982. However, in April 2013, it was also announced that charter schools would be subject to Ombudsman scrutiny on matters relating to suspensions and expulsions.
The plan was heavily criticised by the opposition Labour and Green parties, and the main teachers' professional associations—the NZEI and the PPTA. Most of the opposition was over the idea of unregistered and untrained teachers having direct contact with students, and the lack of accountability through the Ombudsman and the Official Information Act. In April 2012, Massey University released a report highly critical of the proposed charter school model, claiming there was no international evidence to support claims that charter schools do better and all they would do is increase segregation. In September 2012, Minister of Education Hekia Parata announced that many schools in Christchurch would be closed or amalgamated, largely due to population changes and damaged facilities following the February 2011 earthquake. However, parents, teachers and students protested at the changes for going too far, and feared that the closures were being used as an excuse to start charter schools. In June 2013, the closed school sites were put up for sale, with charter schools and property development among the proposed uses.
The Education Amendment Bill to allow charter schools, rebranded Partnership Schools/Kura Hourua, was introduced on 15 October 2012 and passed its first reading three days later 63 votes to 56. The bill was referred to the Education and Science select committee for closer scrutiny and public submissions, with the committee reporting back in April 2013 that the bill should proceed with amendments. After the report was released, United Future MP Peter Dunne announced he was pulling support for charter schools, leaving only the National, Act and Maori Parties supporting the bill. The bill passed its third reading on 4 June 2013, 62 votes to 57. During the select committee stage, the Labour Party announced that if elected to government at the 2014 general election, it would introduce provisions to require charter schools to employ registered teachers and make the schools fully accountable to the Ombudsmen and the Official Information Act. It would also not allow any new charter schools and would not guarantee future funding or integration to any existing schools, leaving them either to continue as private schools or close altogether.

Creation and operations

In May 2013, the PPTA published in its staff newsletter a list of 21 parties it believed were interested in the charter school programme, which included a high proportion of religious groups. While the Ministry of Education refused to release the full list of 36 interested parties, in July 2013, the Ombudsman overruled the MoE and forced them to release the list as soon as possible. In September 2013, the Education Minister Hekia Parata and Association Education Minister John Banks announced that the first five charter schools would open in Auckland and Northland by the first term of 2014. These schools included the Vanguard Military School, the Māori secondary schools Te Kura Hourua o Whangarei Terenga Paraoa and Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru, The Rise UP Academy, and the Christian-oriented South Auckland Middle School.
In September 2014, the Northland-based Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru in Whangaruru attracted controversy over its poor leadership, high absenteeism of 20%, and mismanagement of government funds. The school, which received 500% more funding than a state school, spent half its income buying a farm. The Ministry of Education carried out a secret inquiry and immediately installed its own manager. One of the two original managers left hurriedly. Problems first arose in 2013 when it was claimed that the school had been set up in a paddock using portaloos for toilets. It was reported that drugs were a problem in the school and that some students had been removed to an unknown place. The school has only one teacher with a current practicing certificate. The original management was replaced by an executive manager from Child, Youth and Family. The school received $27,000 per student compared to $6,000 per student in a state school. In October 2015, the Education Ministry acknowledged that charter schools had been over-funded an extra $888,000 more than they would have been allocated had their funding been strictly based on their enrolments.
In May 2016, an independent Partnership School support entity called E Tipu E Rea was established to provide support for existing and prospective charter school sponsors through a $500,000 conditional grant from the Government. Education Under-secretary and ACT leader David Seymour claimed that this would bring NZ charter schools in line with overseas models such as England's New Schools Network and New York's New York Charter School Centre. The Board was chaired by former EY Australasia CEO Rob McLeod. Other board members included former Maori Party Co-Leader Dame Tariana Turia, Dame Jenny Gibbs, former All Black rugby player La’auli Savae Michael Jones, Bruce Ritchie, and Kep Rapson. In August 2016, Seymour announced that two new Māori-oriented charter schools would be opening in Hamilton and Napier by 2017, adding to the eight that were already operating.
In May 2017, the consultancy firm Martin Jenkins published an independent report on behalf of the Ministry of Education praising most of the country's eight charter schools for helping Māori, Pacific Islander, and disadvantaged children. During the 2017 general election, the opposition Labour, Green, and New Zealand First parties announced that they would introduce legislation abolishing charter schools if elected into government. On 7 September, the National Government announced the creation of four new charter schools including a Christchurch outpost of the Auckland-based Vanguard Military School, a Māori-oriented junior high school, a bilingual Māori high school, and a STEM-oriented Auckland school.

Abolition and transition to state-integrated schools

Following the formation of a Labour-led coalition government in October 2017, the new Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced that the Government would be abolishing charter schools. In early 2018, the Labour-led Government introduced legislation blocking the creation of future charter schools while still allowing the existing 11 charter schools to continue operating while they negotiated options with the Ministry of Education. The Government's announcement was welcomed by the Post Primary Teachers' Association. By contrast, the announcement was criticized by charter schools, several parents, and the opposition National and ACT parties. The National Party's education spokesperson Nikki Kaye asked the Auditor-General to investigate potential conflicts of interest in the process of closing charter schools.
On 11 February 2018, ACT leader and charter school advocate David Seymour led a 150-strong protest in Central Auckland criticizing the Government's decision. In response to criticism from parents and charter school advocates, Prime Minister Ardern, and Māori Labour MPs Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis and former broadcaster Willie Jackson have suggested that charter schools could convert to "special character" schools in order to avoid closure. On 21 February the entire Partnership Schools Authorisation Board announced that it would be resigning in protest of the Government's approach to abolishing charter schools. On 5 March, charter school representatives including Villa Education Trust's academic advisor Alwyn Poole sought clarification from the Government on the deadline for charter schools to convert to "special character" schools. Education Ministry spokesperson Katrina Casey issued a statement confirming that 1 April 2018 would be the deadline for new schools but not existing schools.
On 2 April 2018, The New Zealand Herald newspaper reported that the Government had paid NZ$3.4 million to five proposed charter schools on the day that the Labour-led coalition government was sworn in on 26 October 2017. Education Minister Chris Hipkins acknowledged that his Government had paid the schools establishment grants since the Government was bound by contracts signed before the 2017 general election. None of these proposed schools have paid back the establishment grants since they are in the process of negotiating with the Government about reopening as state schools or integrated schools. It was also reported that terminating the contracts for the existing 11 charter schools and proposed five charter schools would generate compensation costs of up to NZ$1 million per school; amounting to an estimated total of NZ$16 million. These proposed schools have included the science-oriented City Senior School in Auckland, Vanguard Military School's Christchurch branch, the Gisborne Māori high school Te Rūnanga o Tūranganui ā Kiwa, and Waatea High School.
By September 2018, all twelve existing charter schools had successfully transitioned into state integrated schools, ending New Zealand's charter school programme. The announcement was welcomed by Education Minister Hipkins but received a bitter-sweet response from charter school advocates and the opposition National and ACT parties. In late August 2018, the Villa Education Trust's Middle School West Auckland, South Auckland Middle School, and the independent Vanguard Military School were redesignated as special character state schools. The Mangere-based Te Kura Māori o Waatea, a proposed Waatea High School, and the proposed Tūranga Tangata Rite in Gisborne were designated as state integrated schools.