Don’t Shut the Door on for-Profit Partnership Schools

media release

Don’t Shut the Door on for-Profit Partnership Schools

The third and final Research Note in Maxim Institute’s series on charter schools addresses the proposal of the for-profit model.

“It’s true that the evidence on for-profit schools is mixed, though we do think that the engagement of private operators may offer unique advantages that benefit disadvantaged children,” says Maxim Institute researcher Dr Luke Fenwick. “We don’t want to rush to judgement and say simply ‘public good, private bad,’ and we think that a public-private partnership school between, for example, teachers/parents and a private actor has the potential to counter New Zealand’s persistent problem with academic underachievement.”

“Each party in this collaboration may complement the other’s strengths. These strengths may include, for the public party, welfare concerns, local knowledge and understanding; the private party, in return, may offer management know-how and additional financial resource. There is nothing about these strengths that holds that each is an exclusive preserve of either a public or private actor, but we do think that there are additional skills that outside muscle may provide to educators interested in establishing a partnership school, especially given that academic underachievement has proved a tough nut to crack.”

“The key to success, in any case, will be the right regulatory and incentive structure, one that balances operators’ flexibility to innovate and accountability for outcomes. Under such conditions, public-private partnership schools will have the best chance to help alleviate educational disadvantage in New Zealand.”

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1303/Are_forprofit_charter_schools_a_good_idea_RN3_embargoed.pdf

ENDS

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