Two state schools are in contract negotiations to become charter schools as early as next year – but their identities remain under wraps.
The Charter School Agency said the schools applied last year to convert and had consulted with their communities.
“When the schools open depends on the outcome of these negotiations. Information will become publicly available after contracts have been signed. Until then, information is commercially sensitive,” the agency’s chief executive Jane Lee said.
The agency said, in total, six state and six state integrated schools, including the two that had been approved, had expressed interest or applied to become charter schools.
They included two former charter schools – logical candidates for joining the charter system – which the agency said were still in discussions.
The only publicly-identified schools were Kaikohe’s Northland College, which finalised a formal expression of interest last week, and state integrated Al-Madinah, which applied this year to convert next year.
The privately run and publicly funded academies were introduced by the coalition Government. (Source: 1News)
The schools required a sponsor, making integrated schools an obvious candidate because they were already owned by a third-party proprietor.
Converting a large state school would be a coup for the model.
The government recently announced changes to make conversion more attractive – doubling the term of the schools’ contracts from 10 to 20 years with two 10-year rights of renewal, allowing sponsors to run multiple schools with only one multi-school contract, and creating a pathway for converted schools to return to the state system.
The coalition government set aside $153 million for 15 new charter schools and the conversion of 35 state schools for 2025 and 2026.
Charter schools work under contracts with the government.
NZEI president Mark Potter says the evidence suggests charter schools do not deliver on what they promise. (Source: Breakfast)
Unlike state and state integrated schools, the Education Ministry does not pay their teachers or own their property and they receive their funding in bulk meaning they have greater flexibility over how they use it, as well as over their curriculum and staffing.
However, RNZ understands previous charter schools found the pressure to reach achievement and attendance targets excessive and that could be deterring them from returning to charter status.
To date, the Government had approved 11 charter schools, all of which were new schools.
Seven opened at the start of the year with an eighth, Twin Oaks Classical School in Auckland, opening in July.
Three new schools were approved to open at the start of next year: an Auckland school with Catholic values called Tōtara Point; Te Kāpehu Whetū, an Auckland boarding school outpost of a former charter school that continued to operate in Whangarei; and the Forest School in Warkworth.
rnz.co.nz