Labour’s lifeline to schools

Labour plans to make changes to special character schools, which will throw a lifeline to the charter schools they promise to shut down.

Under a Labour-led government, charter schools will be repealed and the party’s education spokesman Chris Hipkins said the options on the table for those schools would be anything from ‘‘closure to integration into the state school system’’.

Labour’s Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis has promised he’ll resign before the two charter schools in his Northland electorate are closed. He said it was an easy promise to make because the schools would change only in name.

A commitment to keep charter schools open was also made in May by Labour list candidate Willie Jackson, who was heavily involved with Te Kura Maori o Waatea, a charter school based in South Auckland.

At the time, Labour leader Andrew Little made it clear those schools would close under Labour and there was no hint of changes to the special character school model - nor was it mentioned in the party’s education manifesto released on Friday.

Yesterday, responding to Davis’ pledge, Hipkins said ‘‘tweaks’’ would be made so there weren’t any ‘‘unnecessary barriers’’ for new special character schools.

That could include allowing schools to have more than one special character, which would make it easier for some Maori and Pacifica-targeted schools, he said.

Asked whether those changes were needed for some charter schools to be able to stay open, Hipkins said: ‘‘Quite possibly, but that wouldn’t be the driver of the change’’.