Zoning changes need to be made with care

The 2018 school year is one term old but already changes are afoot.

In Auckland, New Zealand’s largest student marketplace, one of the biggest education shifts in decades is under way as popular high schools stop offering places to out-of-zone students because they are full.

Rapid population growth across the Auckland isthmus is driving the change, along with signals from the Government that the current zoning system is a closed book.

The implications of these school moves are yet to unfold but they may have effects well beyond the classroom. For 30 years parents, especially better-off ones, have made decisions about their children’s education which have driven real estate markets in Auckland and shaped the performance and appeal of schools.

There is research which shows that some schools have fared well, and others drifted behind, under the existing system. But equally the current system, created by the Tomorrow’s Schools reforms in the late 1980s, has allowed families to send their children across zones to schools of their choice.

The unsurprising tendency has favoured higher decile schools.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins has set up a taskforce to review Tomorrow’s Schools and is hosting summits in Auckland and Christchurch seeking ideas and feedback on future schools.

Parents will always want the best for their children, and the Government’s role should be to ensure that students get the best possible education from the school they attend.

Any changes to the existing model should be approached with care.