Charter Schools | General Debate – MP Hone Harwira
Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin in SpeechesCHARTER SCHOOLS
General Debate – Wed 15 May 2013
Hone Harawira – MANA Leader and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau
Mr Speaker – yesterday the house debated ACT’s charter schools bill that the Maori Party voted for. They didn’t speak to it – heck no, they were too embarrassed to do that; hell, they weren’t even in the house for it; and they must have cringed when their National and ACT Party buddies sang their praises over it; but still … they voted for it.
So what’s all the fuss about? It’s because the Maori Party is backing Charter Schools over Kura Kaupapa Māori. That’s what the fuss is all about.
And they know what they’re doing too, because Pete Sharples, Associate Minister of Education with responsibility for Maori Medium Education, and co-leader of the Maori Party, is supposed to be the big daddy of Kura Kaupapa Maori.
The Maori Party knows that governments have starved Kura of funding, and imposed rules on them that no other school has to adhere to, and yet Kura Kaupapa Maori remain one of the most successful educational initiatives for Maori by Māori, of the last 100 years.
But last night the Maori Party voted with ACT to spend massive amounts of money on Charter Schools, while Kura Kaupapa got bugger all. That’s what the fuss is all about.
Massey University Professor of Education, John O’Neill, said that early indications are that Charter Schools will get more than twice the level of funding as mainstream schools and Kura Kaupapa Maori.
It’s one thing to watch the rich white boys give their mates all the lollies while the poor little Maori kids get by on scraps … it’s bloody embarrassing though having to watch their Maori mates cheer them on, and the Maori Party should be ashamed for turning their backs on Kura Kaupapa Maori. That’s what the fuss is all about.
Maori fought long and hard to establish Kohanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Maori because we know that making a commitment to Te Reo, to Whanau, and to Kaupapa Maori, is critical to providing for successful outcomes for Maori students, and Kura have proven that to be the case time and time again.
But will the Charter Schools that the Maori Party support make those same commitments? HELL NO!!!
Charter Schools will have no accountability to whanau, no commitment to Te Reo, no responsibility to Te Aho Matua, no obligation to put registered teachers in front of our kids, no transparency under the Official Information Act … and they’re going to get heaps more money than Kura Kaupapa ever got – and the Maori Party supports that? That’s what the fuss is all about.
And Charter Schools won’t have to worry about the Auditor-General’s Office either!
Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu’s submission on the bill says, “overseas experience shows that charter schools are highly susceptible to fraud, waste and abuse” and in her submission, Dr Bronwyn Hayward, political scientist and senior lecturer at the University of Canterbury referred to the problems of crony capitalism, tax evasion, fraud, and corruption that have plagued charter schools elsewhere, and described them as a “naive and reckless governance model” and the Maori Party is voting for them. That’s what the fuss is all about.
Mainstream schools aren’t exactly pathways to high achievement for Maori students, and clearly there is much to be done to change that, but that’s what the Associate Minister of Education is supposed to be doing – identifying and promoting better models – not backing expensive, high-risk, low accountability charter school ventures that 20 years of research show achieve nothing that can’t be done without them. That’s what the fuss is all about.
The Maori Party talks about how important it is to be at the top table – well, tomorrow we find out whether that’s true or whether it is just a big fat lie to keep them on their big fat salaries and in their big fat limos while delivering a big fat zero on Maori Education.
If tomorrow, the Maori Party can give Kura Kaupapa all that they’re giving to Charter Schools, if they get an extension on the Kotahitanga program in mainstream schools that they brag about so much, and if they get Manaaki Tauira reinstated to help all Maori students get a tertiary education, then they deserve a pat on the back.
If, on the other hand, they don’t achieve these things, then they will have failed, their mantra about being at the top table will have been exposed, and their support for charter schools will be shown up for what it really is – a plea for scraps from a government whose actions prove that Maori issues rank somewhere between nowhere and obscurity.
And that, Mr Speaker, is what this fuss is really all about. Because our kids, all of our kids, deserve the very best in education, not the failed experiment that Charter Schools have proven to be
peter jones says:
Post Author May 20, 2013 at 6:50 pmKia Ora folks,
Sorry thats about the limit of my knowledge of the Maori language but it’s a fact I’m not proud of and I am trying to do something about it.
Anyway this charter schools business needs a bit of explaining.
In 1992 a billionare Canadian Socialist called Maurice Strong set up a United Nations new world order called Agenda 21.
He also got a few other fat cat buddies,Rockefeller and Gorbachev to set up “The Earth Charter” which he called the new 10 commandments.
They set up a group called ICLIE-Local councils for sustainability.
They use a software tool called “EarthCAT” which is the Propaganda part of the outfit.
You can look it up online easily enough.
The Charter Schools korero comes from EarthCAT along with Bike paths,Public spaces,Safer Communities and all the other bread and circus takis that all the other political parties are following.
Mercifully Hone admitts that 90% of his politics comes “from the heart” so he is not really up on all this.
I write this message as a warning,pointing to the source of all the “expert bullshit”.
Please check out http://www.earthcat and have a bloody good read.
If you do it will all fall into place.
Ka Kite from Peety.
Peter Jones Gisborne.
peter jones says:
Post Author May 20, 2013 at 7:12 pmhttp://www.earthcat.org
Jose says:
Post Author January 27, 2014 at 11:21 pm…I wonder about the efcistevenefs of this idea. While an 11.2% reduction in cost to a portion of their weekly grocery spend would be very helpful to low income families, I doubt whether it would result in marked change in eating habits.Firstly it’s 12.5% not 11.5% – and yes I believe that a Government has a responsibility to make the purchasing environment as easy as possible for people to make the right choices on food – so I doubt your doubt.Fresh food has always been cheaper than fast food – but so many families lack the knowledge or skills or motivation to plan and shop for a weeks meals and then prepare them.While you make a good point about peoples skills being low (these are being addessed by education campaigns aimed at Mums and Kids to cook healthier) – your claim that fresh food is cheaper than fast food simply isn’t true – fast food is cheaper because of mass production that lowers costs.I think it’s like the idea of raising the tax rate on alcopops – it’s not addressing the core issue – drink culture in the case of alcopops, food culture with the GST issue.Where as I think a Government has the resposnibilty of stepping in and making changes that make it more difficult to buy certain products that aren’t good for you.PS – Anon is justified in raising the complexity issue – NZ’s GST system is widely praised as one of the simplest goods tax currently in operation. I don’t think the added complexity is neccesarily a deal breaker as far as progressing this idea, but it should be recognised as an issue that would need to be addressed.GST is also unfair on the poor, so I don’t rate that priase very highly. Anonymous said…I recall that Australia wasted its time on vigorous debates over whether adding fruit to bread made it worthy of a tax break. The two countries that you mention are the exceptions and not the rule. The fact is that it is much simpler, and more common internationally, to tax everything or failing that lift the tax on all food .They can do it which proves we can – despite your best attempts, you can’t dilute that fact.If the problem is that poor people need more money to spend then that can be easily solved by dropping either the rate of GST or the lower tax rate.The money we lose in GST revenue will be saved from the Health budget as our diet moves away from fast food to fresh food.Anon (1.40PM) fair point about Bomber. Here’s a thought Bomber reduce your ecological footprint by eating less.Ummmmm – Anon, I have never owned a car, I walk and use mass transport everywhere I go – my global footprint is incredibly low – attempting to attach my weight to the issue is so purile I understand why you have posted anonymously. You have no honour, move along please, try Kiwi Blogh