Criticism of ‘too restrictive’ zoning rules
Number of school zones rises to accommodate ballooning enrolment, writes Harrison Christian.
The Education Ministry is wielding new powers to force popular schools to enforce zone boundaries and admit only local children.
There has been a big increase in zoned schools over the past year: 45 schools set in place new zones, taking the total number to 887 zones out of the country’s 2430 state or state-integrated schools. Of those, 23 schools were expressly directed by the Ministry to implement the zones. Only three schools have got rid of their zones.
Reaction has been mixed: Teaching unions support the ministry’s new powers, saying zones force schools to take neighbourhood kids rather than competing with other schools for high-achievers.
But some schools and parents say the powers are draconian – that schools should be free to choose whether to implement zones; that families should be free to choose where to send their children to school.
The Ministry was given the new powers by a 2016 change to the Education Act. It came after two schools – King’s High School in Dunedin and Mercury Bay Area School in Whitianga – refused to follow the ministry’s advice to enforce zones.
Rector Dan Reddiex said King’s was incorrectly deemed at risk of overcrowding, by a Ministry formula. That was why it made better sense for schools, who knew their own pupils and facilities, to make the decision themselves.
‘‘If you did the numbers in accordance with the Ministry formula, perhaps you would say the school was at risk. But if you actually came and had a look at the school and the teaching spaces, and the number of rooms that were still available and vacant on any given day, then clearly there was no risk of overcrowding.’’
The school wasn’t in the position of schools that had been zoned in Auckland, where ‘‘if every kid who wanted to go to that school got to go, they simply couldn’t manage’’, he said.
‘‘Every boy that wants to come can come – there would be no overcrowding. Why would we as a state school resist a student wanting to come if the parents believed this was the best education system for their child?’’
Why would we as a state school resist a student wanting to come if the parents believed this was the best education system for their child? Dan Reddiex
School Trustees Association president Lorraine Kerr said the Ministry should have input into zones, to rein in competition between schools for pupils, but the final say should be should be up to the school board.
‘‘Only the schools themselves know their regions, their neighbouring schools. There’s got to be an element of trust there somewhere.’’
School zones are generally put in place to accommodate increasing enrolments. ‘‘A school zone helps a board to manage growth and spread students over a number of schools ensuring we make efficient use of existing capacity in our network of schools,’’ said Ministry deputy secretary Katrina Casey.
She was backed by the two teachers’ unions. PPTA president Jack Boyle said he was pleased the ministry had greater power to set and enforce zones, because otherwise schools’ ‘‘highly competitive behaviour’’ could be damaging.
‘‘School choice simply exacerbates social division, undermines equity, and the evidence is really clear, on average parents don’t choose a school for the quality of the education it provides, they choose it for the peer group – that is the other students that go there,’’ he said.
Without enrolment schemes there would be massively inefficient and wasteful use of public resources, he said. ‘‘It’s ridiculous to have one school with millions of dollars’ worth of buildings and property sitting half empty, while a few kilometres away there’s a school bursting at the seams and getting new buildings and investment to keep up.’’
‘‘Three years down the track, and it’s quite possible that the one that was crowded is now half empty, often for no good reason other than another school is flavour of the month.’’
Lynda Stuart, president of the NZEI, said the primary teachers’ union supported school zones so ‘‘children go to their local school’’.
‘‘That whole concept of schools as the community hub, and being inclusive of those children who are in the area, is absolutely what we would like to see across the country.’’