Megan Woods
Associate Education (Christchurch) Spokesperson

13 November 2013

Minister must come clean on public-private schools for Christchurch

Education Minister Hekia Parata must come clean and tell local communities in Christchurch which schools are being targeted for public-private partnerships, says Labour’s Christchurch Education spokesperson Megan Woods.

“Ministry officials today told a select committee that a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is being considered for schools in Christchurch.

“The Minister now needs to front up and say which local communities will have to deal with another one of National’s experiments.

“Building public schools is the Government’s job. This is an ideological experiment from Hekia Parata. It’s not fair on the children and what’s more it could end up costing the taxpayers more than any projected savings.

“We know from the Hobsonville School PPP example it ended up costing the tax payer $1.5 million more than if the Government had built it itself.

“We also know from international examples that PPP schools are not the way to make schools the centre of communities.

“Labour is more interested in the best education outcomes for children, rather than the best deal for corporate players.

“Strict contractual obligations that prevent the community from using school facilities are not part of Labour’s vision for rebuilding Christchurch.

“We want our public schools to be the centre of our communities,” Megan Woods says.

ENDS

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