Key must come clean on performance funding

John Key needs to come clean on National’s plans for  “performance’’ funding in schools, says Labour Leader David Cunliffe.

“In the wake of a recent OECD PISA report strongly underlining the impact of poverty and inequality on educational achievement, we now have suggestions of a policy that will strip resources from the schools that need it most and give it to those that are already thriving.

“This is more of the same from a Prime Minister and a Government that have repeatedly shown contempt for the idea of equality of choice and opportunity for all.

“There are 285,000 children in poverty in New Zealand and performance funding in schools will not help.

“National’s tax cuts and assets sales blatantly favoured the top few per cent of New Zealanders and increased the gaps between the haves and the have-nots.

“Performance funding for schools would be another disastrous step along this Government’s path to a deeply divided society.

“This Government’s policies are already taking a world-leading education system backwards. They’ve given us National Standards which teachers and principals do not support.

 “They’ve introduced Charter Schools in which unqualified teachers are exempt from normal teaching criteria, at great expense to the taxpayer.

“They tried to get away with bringing in bigger class sizes and they have presided over the biggest administrative public sector blunder in recent years with the Novopay fiasco, which is still hitting taxpayers in the pocket.

“This is a Government which cannot be trusted with Education.

“Mr Key needs to live up to his promises to be transparent to New Zealanders and reveal his Government’s future plans for education.

“Or was this just another instance of  high-handed and arrogant Education Minister Hekia Parata making up policy on the hoof?’’ says David Cunliffe.

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