Bali Haque: Zoning guards a basic right

Bali Haque

The following is clear about Auckland Grammar: it is a popular school. It has had substantial roll growth in the past five years or so (as secondary rolls throughout the country have peaked). It has had a substantial number of late enrolments. It has problems dealing with parents who try to cheat the zoning legislation.

What John Morris needs to be clear about, however, is that there are plenty of other schools in New Zealand which are dealing with exactly the same issues.

The difference between Auckland Grammar and many of these other schools is that most manage the problem effectively, sensitively, quietly and reasonably fairly without resorting to making illegal and public threats to bar students from attending their local school.

At our college we ensure we leave space for the expected late enrolments. This year Pakuranga College has had 70 such enrolments on a roll of 2100 students. The principals of two other large Auckland colleges were quoted in the Herald recently as saying they, too, planned effectively for late enrolments.

Late or illegal enrolments may point to the need for some schools to address their planning processes, but they do not provide any basis upon which to throw out our zoning legislation.

The zoning legislation as it stands is not perfect. Popular schools may well attract students into their geographical zone, and this can create a problem in terms of raised property prices. However, there is no doubt that this has actually always been a problem, mainly because the majority of people prefer to attend their local school, regardless of zoning legislation.

The key principle which the current legislation does enshrine is the right of local students to attend their local school. This is fundamental and should be non-negotiable if we are to maintain our social cohesiveness.

John Morris suggests that this principle is somehow outdated but conspicuously fails to offer any workable alternative, and I think this is a pity.

Here are two alternatives:

Allow schools to set their own selection criteria. If we allow this, we can be sure that some schools will cherry-pick the best, and local students will miss out on the opportunity to attend their local schools.

The long-term effect of this approach will be to create social division and a two-tier state education system. There is plenty of evidence that this happened in Auckland when we did not have a system based around geographical zoning.

Allocate all places by ballot. This approach really makes education provision a lottery, will make for enormous traffic problems, but has the virtue of being fair.

Of course there are variations galore, but the fact is that we must choose between differing options, none of which are perfect.

The debate about education is, rightly, a hugely important and emotional one. Every parent has a right to be assured that the quality of education provided to their child is of the highest standard.

The best way to achieve this is to ensure that every school does provide the highest standards. Instead of expending our energies on ideologically based debates about zoning, and parent cheats, it might be more appropriate to consider how we address the issue of schools which are not meeting the needs of their communities.

This may mean much heavier interventions by government in cases of poor performance, better training for leaders, more flexible employment contracts for teachers, and better resourcing.

I am sure that Auckland Grammar is having a hard time at the moment, but the issues raised by John Morris can be dealt with internally without making the rest of New Zealand deal with the consequences of the precipitous action he seems to be advocating.

* Bali Haque is Principal of Pakuranga College