Face of the Day

“Labour has got rid of these before, and we will get rid of them again, because they are bad for young people and bad for their learning,” she said.

“We will be looking at legal advice around that, but we will get rid of charter schools.

“We will not have charter schools.” [...]

In her interview, Tinetti was challenged on Labour's long-standing position on the schooling policy, after her party's Māori development spokesperson Willie Jackson told Q+A that there was “no doubt” the schools had helped Māori in their previous iteration.

Jackson was the chief executive of the Manukau Urban Māori Authority, which helped open a charter school, enabled by the then-National government in 2015. [...]

Asked if the former Māori development minister was wrong, she said, “in a way, yes.” [...]

[David Seymour] has previously announced up to $153 million could be spent over the next four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and to convert 35 state schools to charter schools in 2025 and 2026 — depending on demand and suitability. [...]

Seymour said: “They can, with some restrictions, set their own curriculum, hours and days of operation, and governance structure. They also have greater flexibility in how they spend their funding as long as they reach the agreed performance outcomes.”