Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Treaty of Waitangi claim lodged over charter school closures

NZ Herald
3 Jul, 2018 09:39 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Save Charter Schools rally outside Jacinda Ardern's Mt Albert electorate office in April. Photo / NZ Herald

Save Charter Schools rally outside Jacinda Ardern's Mt Albert electorate office in April. Photo / NZ Herald

Charter school closures will have a disproportionately detrimental effect on Māori, educators Sir Toby Curtis and Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi say in a Treaty of Waitangi claim.

Curtis said most of the 1500 students at the charter schools the Government is shutting down were Māori, many of whom had enrolled to get a fresh start in education and get their lives back on track.

Six of the 11 partnership schools (Kura Hourua) had 87 to 100 per cent Māori rolls.

"The rights of these students to make that choice and the rights of parents and whanau to choose and support what's best for their children are being taken away from them," Curtis said.

Tawhiwhirangi said there had been a "total lack of consultation" with the schools and their students' whanau.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"This Government has ridden roughshod over the futures of these young people in spite of claiming that they are placing a priority on helping our most vulnerable children.

"The evidence shows that Kura Hourua have been delivering very positive results for Māori students who for decades have been falling through the gaps," she said.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins introduced the Education Amendment Bill, spelling the end of charter schools, in February.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

All existing charter schools applied to become state or integrated schools.

So far Hipkins has approved only Albany's Vanguard Military School to convert to a state school with designated character.

He has promised to decide by the end of the month on applications from nine others to become designated character state schools and from two, Te Kura Māori o Waatea in Māngere and the proposed new Tūranga Tangata Rite in Gisborne, to become integrated schools similar to Catholic schools.

Curtis said the Government's plans to offer Kura Hourua the chance to re-establish themselves as regular state schools would not solve the problem.

Discover more

New Zealand|education

Partnership schools receive termination notices

07 Jun 09:40 PM

"It would strip the schools of the key flexibilities that were allowing them to succeed.

"Students would be left with no choice but to either leave school or return to a state system that wasn't working for them in the first place.

"Yes, we have a good state education system, but it doesn't serve all students' needs equally well. Results across the country clearly show that one size does not fit all," he said.

Rotorua's only partnership school, Te Rangihakahaka Centre for Science and Technology, is run by Te Taumata o Ngati Whakaue Iho-Ake Trust, the educational arm of Ngati Whakaue.

General manager Roanna Bennett said the trust supported the claim being made and agreed closing partnerships would detrimentally affect Māori.

"We really see no value in being forced back into the state school model. This offers a way for iwi to actively partner as equals," she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I'd like to see the Government begin to get serious about engaging with iwi with the goal being to improve education outcomes for Māori.

"The state school system has failed Māori for decades. This opportunity to do things differently is now being taken away.

"We are here, we want to contribute, we want to be able to do things differently."

Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey said he had always advocated for a state school system for all Māori and the Government was committed to that.

"All Māori students regardless of where they go to school deserve a world-class education so they can fulfil their full potential."

National's education spokeswoman Nikki Kaye and Māori education spokeswoman Jo Hayes said the Government should listen to Māori on the schools.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Partnership schools have a proven track record of helping vulnerable young people, many of whom are Māori, to succeed in education. Yet the Government's Education Amendment Bill includes provisions that will scrap the partnership school model, with no regard for where it leaves the students and their families," Kaye said.

"Now in light of the Treaty claim, the Government should remove the provisions from the Bill and let partnership schools get on with educating our vulnerable young people," she said.

Hayes said Labour's Māori MPs were letting young Māori down by not fighting for the schools.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

19 Jun 10:45 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Air NZ plane lands safely after mid-air maintenance alert

19 Jun 09:14 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

'Living expressions': Pou returned to Hastings Civic Square after restoration

19 Jun 09:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

19 Jun 10:45 PM

One person was taken into custody at the scene.

Air NZ plane lands safely after mid-air maintenance alert

Air NZ plane lands safely after mid-air maintenance alert

19 Jun 09:14 PM
'Living expressions': Pou returned to Hastings Civic Square after restoration

'Living expressions': Pou returned to Hastings Civic Square after restoration

19 Jun 09:00 PM
Our top Premium stories this year: Special offer for Herald, Viva, Listener

Our top Premium stories this year: Special offer for Herald, Viva, Listener

19 Jun 08:11 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP