Charter schools in New Zealand, also known as partnership schools or kura hourua in te reo Māori, are schools that receive government funding similar to state schools but are 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 are operated by sponsors such as Māori iwi, not-for-profit organisations, businesses or existing education providers.
Charter schools were legalised after an agreement between the National Party and their confidence and supply partner ACT New Zealand following the 2011 general election. In October 2012, the 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. Opposition to charter schools formed part of the Labour Party's education policy in the 2014 and 2017 general elections.
In late October 2017, the newly formed Labour-led coalition government announced that it would be abolishing charter schools. This announcement triggered mixed responses. Teaching unions supported the new Government's decision, while charter schools and the opposition National and ACT parties opposed the announcement. In response to protests, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said 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.
On November 24, 2023, the newly formed National/ACT/NZ First coalition government made a pledge to reinstate charter schools in New Zealand, marking a shift in education policy direction. On 25 September 2024, the New Zealand Parliament passed legislation reestablishing charter schools.
Context In 1989, the Fourth Labour Government reformed the state (public) 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 (e.g. the Catholic Church in the case of a Catholic 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 Māori 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. The government intended to set up charter schools as alternatives to state schools. Hekia Parata, the new education minister, would be responsible for their introduction. John Banks, the ACT leader, was made an associate minister of education and given responsibility for leading the work related to the development of potential charter schools.
The government's proposal was, like in other countries, charter schools would be operated by private businesses or organisations and would be directly accountable for performance to the organisations 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 (although they would still require police clearance). Charter schools would still be subject to triennial external reviews by the Education Review Office, 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. In the original proposal, unlike state schools, charter schools would not be subject to either Ombudsman scrutiny or the Official Information Act 1982.
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.
The Education Amendment Bill to allow charter schools, rebranded as partnership schools or 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, including a change so that charter schools would be subject to Ombudsman scrutiny on matters relating to suspensions and expulsions (other than the Ombudsman, the only other way to appeal a suspension or expulsion is through the court system). After the report was released, United Future MP Peter Dunne announced he was pulling support for charter schools, leaving only the National, Act and Māori 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. While Labour did not win the 2014 election, four Labour MPs were successful in having their member's bills related to charter schools selected for introduction between 2015 and 2017. Phil Goff's 2015 bill would have required charter schools to teach a "broad and balanced" curriculum; Chris Hipkins' 2016 bill proposed their abolition; Nanaia Mahuta's 2016 bill would have applied the Ombudsmen Act 1975 and Official Information Act 1982 to the charter school regime; David Clark's 2017 bill would have outlawed for-profit schools. The first three bills were defeated; the fourth was withdrawn after the change of government in 2017.
Creation and operations 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.
Ahead of the passage of the Education Amendment Bill, an independent Partnership Schools Authorisation Board was established in March 2013 to evaluate applications for Partnership Schools and make recommendations to the Minister of Education on which applications should be considered for contract negotiations. Catherine Isaac, a former ACT Party president and candidate, was appointed as chair. The other initial members were former PriceWaterhouseCoopers chair John Shewan, Māori language advocate Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi, former Auckland Grammar headmaster John Morris, Margaret Southwick, Tahu Potiki and Terry Bates. The Board was also responsible for monitoring the educational performance and achievement progress of the Partnership Schools.
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 Ministry and forced it to release the list as soon as possible. In September 2013, Parata and 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 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.