Principals dismayed by news of more charter schools

<h3>The announcement that the government will fund another seven charter schools and an independent body to support them is a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;huge disappointment” to principals across the nation&period;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Only a few months ago&comma; the minister &lpar;Hekia Parata&rpar; was closing the Whangaruru failed charter school which spent &dollar;1&period;6million on a farm and the government has no mechanism to retrieve that money&comma; even though the school is now closed&comma;” said Iain Taylor&comma; president of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation today&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We thought that lessons had been learned from that disaster&comma;” said Mr Taylor&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;but obviously not&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;No one is calling for more of these schools&period; Parents already have more than enough schools to choose from&period; Charter schools are a political arrangement with the government and the ACT party&period;’ he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Kids are not flocking to charter schools&period; Parents have to be enticed to send their kids there&period; We see the incentives like free school uniforms&comma; free stationery and no programme charges&comma;” said Taylor&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Charter schools are a business&comma; not a regular school&comma; and businesses market themselves to get more customers by offering enticements&period; That’s what charter schools do&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyQuote;The minister has often said that the vast majority of public schools of all decile levels in this country are great schools&period; We want all public schools in New Zealand to be great schools and we don’t need charter schools soaking up precious funds that would make that happen&comma;” said Taylor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;