David Seymour's Enduring Love for Charter Schools

The seeds of large scale privatisation have started with the diversion of resources from our public schools to private, secretively held, charter schools

This article is open for all readers. Video at the end.

Summary:

David Seymour has championed charter schools for over a decade, arguing that it will enhance productivity and create a better society for all. ACT-National’s last experiment saw charter schools spend $125 million of taxpayer funds over 8 years, under a constant stream of inconsistent and poor outcomes - while private sponsors profited.

The average annual operational cost per charter school student is ~3x those of public schools. This time, Luxon and Willis gave $153 million over 4 years for Seymour to establish 50 charter schools - 35 to be converted from the State. That doubles the experimental budget from the last round - no wonder Seymour was chuffed.

There are many unpleasant and shocking surprises hidden in Seymour’s legislation - all designed to shield charter schools from transparency and public accountability, and privatise NZ’s education system. Seymour also specifies the private schools can take resources from an…