The Government will remove a requirement for school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, but will still make clear they should seek to achieve equitable outcomes for Māori students.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the current legislated requirement means parents in charge of governance of local schools are expected to “interpret and implement a Treaty obligation that rightfully sits with the Crown”.
“School boards play an important role in raising achievement. But they cannot and should not carry the Crown’s constitutional obligations under the Treaty,” she said.
“Their focus should be on the practical things that make a difference for students: ensuring children are turning up to school, progressing in their learning, and succeeding.”
The current legislation came into effect in 2020 and Stanford said the Treaty clause had “made no difference to raising the achievement of tamariki Māori”.
In June, Stanford was subject to what she called “complete, utter garbage [and] lies” amid an attack campaign from lobby group Hobson’s Pledge over the clause. The group wanted it removed.
At the time, she said there were “legitimate questions” to be asked about whether that clause was necessary, but said it would be included as part of the Government’s wider review of Treaty clauses. Her coalition partners in Act argued it should be removed immediately.
An Official Information Act (OIA) response released to the Herald in July showed the Ministry of Education had provided no advice to the minister on removing the requirement at the time.
On Tuesday, she said the Government’s review had questioned whether “it was appropriate for school boards to be held accountable for meeting the Crown’s obligations under the Treaty”.
“The Government does not believe it’s fair and reasonable to pass this duty on to parents and volunteers,” Stanford said. “The Crown, not parent volunteers, must be accountable for it.”
Stanford has legislation going through the House that makes multiple changes to how the education system is governed. Within this bill, there are amendments to Section 127, which outlines the objectives of school boards.
The current law already contains objectives, including the one to ensure “the school gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi”.
Stanford’s legislation initially continued to include this, but it will be removed. The change will be made at the Committee of the Whole House stage of the legislative process.
Her legislation also says the “paramount objective” for a school board is to “ensure that every student at the school is able to attain their highest possible standard in educational achievement”.
There are several “supporting objectives” in Stanford’s bill to assist with this. Many of these are already in the current law but are referred to as the boards’ “primary objectives”.
They include ensuring a school is “physically and emotionally safe for all students and staff”, “inclusive of and caters for students with differing needs” and acts to “eliminate racism, stigma, bullying and any other forms of discrimination”.
The new legislation also makes explicitly clear a school must “take all reasonable steps to ensure that the school’s students attend the school when it is open”.
In the current law, there are various ways a school board can give effect to Te Tiriti, such as ensuring local curriculum “reflect local tikanga Māori, mātauranga Māori, and te ao Māori” and making instruction available in te reo Māori.
Stanford said her legislation will still make clear that school boards must “seek to achieve equitable outcomes for Māori students”.
Boards will also have to “take all reasonable steps to provide for teaching and learning in te reo Māori to students whose parents and caregivers request it” and “ensure that the policies and practices for its school reflect New Zealand’s cultural diversity”.
There are more mentions of Te Tiriti in the legislation – such as stating the education system should honour it - but not relating to school boards’ objectives. These may be included in the Government’s wider review, for which decisions haven’t been announced.
A war-of-words between Stanford and Hobson’s Pledge happened in June after the lobby group claimed the minister was sneaking the “radical” clause into legislation. She hadn’t introduced it, but initially didn’t remove it.
Hobson’s Pledge trustee Elliot Ikilei described Stanford as National’s “wokest” minister. A website set up by the group alleged the clause was “Stanford’s Sneaky Sell-out”.
They believed the clause represented “one of the boldest attempts yet to entrench co-governance and identity politics in the classroom”.
Stanford said she received “emails and messages and all sorts of things telling me what an awful person I am, but all based on complete and utter rubbish, complete lies”.
Act’s David Seymour told the Herald at the time that his party wanted the clause removed right away and people shouldn’t “be forced to learn about a set of spiritual beliefs or culture because somebody else thinks it’s important for them”.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said in June it was a “good thing” for school boards to “be asking the question, ‘why are Māori kids not achieving at the same level as non-Māori kids?’”
Jamie Ensor is a senior political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist this year for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.