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Labour list candidate Willie Jackson is denying any incompatibility between the party's intention to scrap the charter school experiment and the support by himself and some Maori MPs for individual schools.
Mr Jackson's Manukau Urban Maori Authority runs a charter school on the grounds of Nga Whare Waatea Marae in Mangere.
He says it was an issue he talked through with the party leadership before deciding to run.
"It was made clear to me right from the start that Labour and in fact no party that's savvy will close any school if the school is doing well. We have always had qualified teachers. There is not a problem there at all and we have taught the New Zealand curriculum from the start. We tick all the boxes Labour has worries with," he says.
Mr Jackson says Maori embraced charter schools as a way to tackle what they saw were gaps int he mainstream system, but they would be happy to use other frameworks like special character schools or integrated schools,.
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