School zones may stay under National

By HELEN TUNNAH

National will ease school zoning rules but education spokesman Bill English is trying to play down talk his party might scrap zones altogether.

He said it would still be some months before National announced its education policy and a final decision on school zones had not been made.

"There'll certainly be a relaxation of zoning," he told the Herald. "I'm trying to keep expectations fairly low because, particularly in Auckland, removing zoning does not solve many problems at all."

Although National adopted a form of school zoning in the late 1990s, Labour tightened restrictions to ensure schools had to take students who lived in their neighbourhood.

Within Auckland, that has been blamed for skewing house prices, as families crowd into the zones for popular schools, such as Auckland Grammar or Rangitoto College.

Mr English told National's annual conference in Auckland at the weekend the party was reviewing zoning - if teachers could choose where they taught, then parents should have greater choice about which schools their children attended.

The party's draft education policy, released last year by former spokesman Nick Smith, promised to repeal present zoning laws.

However, it also said some form of "residual powers will need to be retained to ensure every child can attend a convenient school".

Mr English said the main problem facing high-population growth areas such as Auckland and Tauranga was finding enough places for parents to send their children.

Mr English has also flagged national literacy testing for children, and a return to bulk-funding of schools for teachers.

He has mooted the introduction of a new independent assessment board, which would certify teachers on a voluntary basis.

That sparked the ire of the primary teachers union, with the New Zealand Educational Institute describing National's education policy as "half-baked".

It said teachers were now certified by the Teachers' Council, so they did not need to volunteer to be assessed by another board.

President Colin Tarr said national testing similar to that proposed by Mr English was being used in England and was an "abject failure".