More public scrutiny required for proposed charter schools 28-Jan-2013

January 28, 2013 10:47 pm

Rural Women New Zealand says if the government is to go ahead with its proposed partnership or charter schools, it’s vital that parents and the community are involved in their governance.

“We are concerned that though these schools are to be publicly funded, the Education Amendment Bill as it stands means that parents and the community may not have a say in how they are managed,” says Rural Women New Zealand education spokesperson, Anne Finnie.

Rural Women NZ believes there needs to be effective financial monitoring and transparency – just as there is for public schools – if private companies and not-for-profit groups are able to set up schools using taxpayers’ money.

“We also want to see a minimum percentage of registered teachers built into the partnership schools model.”

Rural Women is concerned that there is the possibility of quite a large school not having any registered teachers.

“We would like to see a minimum percentage of registered teachers, related to the size of the school.”

Rural Women believes that there are some situations where partnership schools could work well, but the current proposals would see them operating without the levels of transparency or accountability that we would expect for publicly funded projects, and this needs to be addressed.