June 18, 2010 9:00am by David Farrar

Reduce funding, don’t sack

A Dunedin school and two in Invercargill are believed to have categorically refused to implement the Ministry of Education’s national standards.

The School Trustees Association has warned the schools’ boards of trustees they could be sacked if they do not back down.

They are among eight schools nationwide which have taken a stance against national standards, and NZSTA president Lorraine Kerr said the boards of the schools would face consequences if they continued to rebel against the standards “in much the same way there are consequences if we break any law”.

However, she said boards were unlikely to be replaced until at least next year when schools would be required to report data to the Ministry of Education.

There are over 2,000 schools in NZ, and the over whelming majority are getting on with the job of implementing national standards.

Personally I wouldn’t sack the boards of the eight refuseniks. That is what they want – to be martyrs. They are obviously more concerned with making a stand, that ensuring parents get more useful information.

Instead of sacking them, I would just reduce the operational grant to that school. If a school refuses to obey the law, well then they have effectively left the public system. Unfair to penalise the teachers, so keep paying them, but whack say 50% off the operations grant and freeze and capital expenditure approval. The board will then have to decide if they want to do what is best for the school, or continue to be amateur politicians. Also allow the pupils to enrol at any other nearby school.

Why should the taxpayer fund a school that refuses to obey the law?