These children often came from either a violent or an extremely poor household. As a society, we owe children like this a chance at an education that, for whatever reason, works for them.
Ohorere was a success story, achieving 85% re-integration, yet the National government only saw the bottom line.
Even though Ohorere ran on the smell of an oily rag, with an annual cost of only $200,000 for around 20 children, National closed it down.
The decision to close Ohorere was steeped in hypocrisy.
In 2008 John Key and Wairarapa MP John Hayes stopped at the school for a photo opportunity to promote the National Party as caring and inclusive. It was all about image building - promoting the brand. They placed clips of the visit in their 2008 promotional DVD.
Once in power they cut funding and consigned the children to the scrap heap. The Minister of Education said the money could be better spent. This month we finally found out what she meant by that.
It has been revealed that the government's controversial charter schools are receiving nearly five times more funding than state and integrated schools.
This equates to around $40,000 per child. That's four times more funding than that received by Ohorere.
Along with the majority of New Zealanders, I have no time for the ideology behind charter schools. Put simply, charter schools are an experiment with our children's future.
For a few months now, private businesses and charities have been operating charter schools outside of the current public and integrated system.
Unlike public schools, charter schools are not subject to normal rules regarding hours or holidays, will not have to hire registered teachers, fully comply with the current curriculum and will not come under the Official Information Act.
These are basic safeguards to ensure the safety of our children and the quality of their education but are being forsaken as part of the Government's confidence and supply deal with the ACT party.
Charter schools can basically do what they want and, perhaps more alarmingly, teach what they want without any oversight or accountability.
There is no doubt every state and integrated school in the country could dramatically improve their students' results if their funding was increased to match that given to charter schools.
But that won't happen. Much like National's desire to do dodgy deals in the seats of Epsom, East Coast Bays and Ohariu, the extra funding given to charter schools is all about getting re-elected.
The government is desperate to make them look like a success.
After all, it's very hard to fight an election over education when your flagship education policy is a dismal failure.
It's interesting how principles have been so easily cast aside when re-election became this government's main priority.
