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Tag: charter school

  • Two Auckland charter schools still have no idea if they will be open next year | Stuff.co.nz

    It amazes me the arrogance and ignorance of some people.

    Just read the comments to see the myriad of people all wondering what Labour’s problem with charter schools are.

    If they’re making a difference, and they’re meeting the needs of some kids, then surely that’s a good thing, regardless of how they get there? Right?

    Sure.

    Except, how do they get there.

    Entire schools, using tax payer money to be set up and run, with ‘special character’, which in this case includes class sizes of no more than 15.

    Okay. Let’s break it down.

    Let’s say that the Ministry of Education has $10,000 dollars to give to all schools to run for the year. Realistically it’s much more than this, but my ‘0’ key is starting to wear out…

    From this pool of money, $7,000 is given to the state sector to teach and to raise achievement and pay the teachers and try to make educational outcomes in the positive. $3,000 is given to charter schools to do what they want with it.

    However. There are 14 state schools using the $7,000, and only 2 charter schools using the $3,000. Let’s break this down. Each state school gets $500, and each charter school gets 3 times that.

    Now… Because the state schools are given a class size of 28 students, this works out to be $17 per student.

    Because the charter schools can state that their class sizes be no bigger than 15, this works out to be $100 per student.

    Now… This isn’t the issue that those of us in the state sector have an issue with. The issue is that there is an unfair playing field being created between the public sector and charter schools which are a mish-mash of private/public. The trouble being that not every student can go to a charter school and access that amazing resource.

    And in the meantime, that $3000 could have been going into the state system to provide similar benefits of smaller class sizes to every school, to every student, not just the few that manage to live near or get accepted into charter schools.

    I guess it comes down to one thing…

    Don’t read the comments!

    Source: Two Auckland charter schools still have no idea if they will be open next year | Stuff.co.nz

  • David Seymour’s Crying Baby

    Waaaa. Waaaa. Stop picking on my baby.

    David Seymour sure is a whiney wet fish when he comes out to defend his precious little charter schools.

    This came about as a charter school approached a nearby state school (after potentially pinching some of their kids so they could open) and asked to use their science laboratories (Essentially they just want the fume hoods, but lets face it, you’re going to end up using the whole space, not just the fume hood!).

    While the school agreed out of good will, they were quickly advised by the Secondary school union ‘PPTA’, that any such arrangement with charter schools was something that was discussed and would not be entered into by state schools.

    In steps David Seymour to fling dirt on the PPTA and try to undermine the PPTA’s credibility.

    Unfortunately (for him at least) he’s come out like a pathetic parent who has no spine “Oh pretty please stop picking on my little child. Okay, well, maybe instead of punching and kicking it, you could just punch it. Okay, but just one kick.”.

    Wet fish.

    Watch the video.

    “I think the critical thing here is that we’ve said for a long time there’s an orchestrated bullying campaign from the PPTA towards partnership schools – and it’s been particularly strong in Northland. It’s never been documented like this, it’s never been explicit.”

    He said there was a “relentless, and frankly insidious campaign” to make life uncomfortable for charter schools.

    “But what I would say is that all good, hard working teachers up and down the country might want to ask themselves if they want to be a member of an organisation that puts ideology ahead of kids like this. ”

    As both the PPTA and the Labour leader point out, Charter Schools get much more funding than state schools could ever hope for.

    “Labour leader Andrew Little says there is a legitimate question about whether charter schools should be getting help from state schools.
    Especially when charter schools have roughly five times more funding for each student than state schools.
    Mr Little says most people would say that’s pretty rough when state schools’ operational funding is being frozen.” – TVNZ

    “Roberts rejected Seymour’s comments.

    “I think it’s a bit cheeky to expect the state system to prop them up even more than they are already.

    “So our members have been very clear from the outset that charter schools – because of the way they pull resourcing away from state schools, and they make vulnerable schools and communities even more vulnerable – that we don’t support them.

    “We will not prop them up because our commitment is to the students in the state system,” she said.

    Roberts said a fume cupboard cost around a $15,000 – “I’m pretty sure that if they’re really careful about the way they cut their costs, they’ll be able to find the resourcing for it”.

    “My understanding is Mr Seymour thinks we’ve pulled out the big guns and gone up there to try and bully them, but actually I met with my members, which I’m more than entitled to do, and we’ve done this on more than one occasion.

    “I guess the issue is more broadly, charter schools have got the luxury of just thinking about the kids in their school, but we’ve got a commitment to all of the kids in the system.” – Stuff