Hello and salutations my loyal subjects.
It’s with great self-importance and a soft passive-aggressive voice I announce an exciting new funding model for education.
For too many years schools have had no choice in how they spend their money. Down to the last staple, paper clip or post-it note, schools have to spend their money in exactly the way the Ministry of Education tell them to.
Well that all ends. Now-ish.
I have a great new idea that I want to share with you.
What if we gave schools freedom? What if we gave schools some choice in how they spend their money?
Yes. Freedom to choose is the mantra of the National Party. We want to give schools, principals, and boards some kind of choice in how they spend their money. If school had choice, then they could choose. Being able to choice the right choice is just going to be quite choice.
And what about private schools? In these days of modern learning and 21st century pedagogy, those schools are really struggling to put iPads on the tables of their hungry students. Why shouldn’t a private school, a school which charges thousands and thousands and thousands a term for tuition, charging rich parents who are part of the political and business elite here in New Zealand, receive millions more in extra funding from the government? Imagine each student having their own smartphone, iPad, laptop and car provided free by the taxpayer instead of their rich parents? How rich would their parents be then?
All I know is that every parent of a private school student I know always pays all their taxes. They should receive some benefit from all those taxes they pay on their income.
Just to be clear, giving public schools choice by bulk-funding teacher salaries through their annual operational grant is not bulk funding. We are calling it global funding. Doesn’t that sound far more exciting and it is completely different? Global funding. Just think about that. Your school can have money from a global bank! Wow! Then you can hire all the unqualified teachers you want.
These are very exciting times for education.
Lots of love.
Hek xxx
My Thinks 