Govt taskforce proposes stripping school boards of all meaningful roles
Radio NZ reports:
The government-appointed group has published its report, which calls for radical changes including the creation of a network of Crown agencies to oversee the work of groups of schools and take over many of the jobs that now fall to schools’ boards of trustees.
The report said the organisations would be called Education Hubs, would be run by a government-appointed director and would take over responsibility for schools’ property, funding and student achievement and hire schools’ principals in consultation with their boards.
The big reform of the 4th Labour Government was to remove schools from the direct control of the education bureaucracy and allow parents to govern the schools their children attend.
This Labour Government wants to reverse that it seems. The Minister will appoint directors who will govern hubs of schools and decide property, funding, achievement and hire of the principal.
So what will be left for parents to do?
Boards’ would be responsible for fund-raising
So is this Labour’s plan? Strip all control of schools from parents who can only be trusted to run school fairs and fundraisers. Have the Minister made direct appointments of directors who will control all schools in an area.
It said schools should get less funding for students who came from outside their enrolment zone, schools with large numbers of out-of-zone students should be required to decrease those enrolments over time, and the number of out-of-zone students would be capped at each school.
And this is basically to force kids to attend their local school no matter how shitty or crappy it is. No more choice. You will go to the school the Government tells you to attend and like it.
This will send house prices even higher in areas with desirable schools.
The teacher unions will love this report. They have always hated the reforms that gave parents more of say in the education system. This report says parents are only good to run cake stalls.