I've got mixed emotions about government announcing the funding of the first five charter schools.
I know how hard it is trying to meet the exacting standards set by the Ministry of Education, and yet while everybody else is playing by the rules, here's the government throwing moneyat charter schools which don't have to use the national curriculum, or be held up to national standards, or have to put qualified teachers in front of the kids, or be accountable for their decisions under the Official Information Act.
On the other hand, I know the people involved in the two Tai Tokerau projects and they are genuinely good people, dedicated to doing the best for Maori kids.
The Leadership Academy already does a wonderful job, and the Whangaruru project, although new, kicks off with the best of intentions. And the kids they're going to help are going to be young Maori, so I wish them all the best.
The reality is that 90 per cent of Maori kids are in the mainstream, but instead of helping those schools to develop a stronger, more robust learning and support network for Maori kids, government has instead scrapped the proven Te Kotahitanga programme and got them all worrying about ERO visits, school closures, cuts in funding, league tables, national standards and Novopay.
And finally, if it's educational success for Maori kids that the government is after, why not increase the funding for kura kaupapa Maori, which has proven to be the highest-achieving school system Maori kids have ever had?
