July 20, 2016
Treaty snub a deal breaker for charter school
The chief executive of the National Urban Maori Authority says the organisation still supports the charter school model, despite Waipareira scrapping plans for one in west Auckland.
Lance Norman says talks broke down over the three year end date in the contract.
The government also refused to include a standard treaty partnership statement, despite Waitangi Tribunal findings that as an urban Maori grouping it had the same treaty status as iwi.
Mr Norman says NUMA members already operate kura hourua in Whangarei and south Auckland, but the rules seem to be different for the earlier schools.
"The funding model was quite different. There was a lot more money up front for capital investment and there was better money for operational activities. We still at a NUMA level support partnership schools. We just don't support the restrictive nature of the contract as it is today. So we will support any member either to get a partnership school or to get an alternative model to provide education to our whanau," he says.
Mr Norman says mainstream education is failing in west Auckland, with half of Maori boys leaving school without NCEA and 4000 children a day being bussed to schools in Auckland city.
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