Charter schools job 'not confirmed'

DANYA LEVY

Former ACT president Catherine Isaac has defended her proposed appointment to lead a trial of charter schools.

The as-yet unconfirmed role has been criticised by political and academic opponents of the scheme.

Isaac said she was ''not entirely surprised'' by the outcry, but insisted she would ''do a more than competent job''.

''I didn't put my hand up for the role,'' the Wellington businesswoman said today. ''I was invited to take it on and I am very pleased to serve. It's not confirmed yet.

''I'm honoured to have the responsibility. I think I will be able to do a more than competent job. I've had a great deal of involvement in the public policy world and in education in particular and in the public and private sectors. I think I've got a reasonably strong, broad background for the role.''

Isaac, who stood as a candidate for ACT is last year's election, is managing director of a public relations firm. She served on the welfare working group, set up by the government to review the welfare system.

She also served on the board of trustees of Wellington College between 1995 and 2001 and the city's Clifton Terrace Model School.

Isaac denied suggestions by the PPTA that the appointment - by sole ACT MP John Banks - was ''ideologically driven'' or politically motivated.

"It's been a long standing ACT policy, I've always been supportive of it and I've contributed to their work in it.''

Her pending appointment was a provocative move, according to an academic.

Prime Minister John Key today said former Isaac was yet to be confirmed to head a charter schools trial, but said he has no problem with her appointment.

"I think very highly of her," he told reporters on his way in a day-long National caucus retreat at Premier House.

"She's got lots of skills and ability and could be very good."

Trials of charter schools will be carried out in Auckland and Christchurch as part of ACT's support agreement with the National-led Government.

They have been controversial among experts and Auckland University Associate Professor Peter O'Connor today described Isaacs' appointment as "a provocative move".

There was "almost universal rejection of the notion of charter schools within the education academy", O'Connor said.

"If this is the kind of appointment that is going to be made, it's worrying, because you really have to wonder if this is about raising the achievement of kids or it is about some ideological agenda that's been set that needs to be played out," O'Connor said.

"If that's the case, trying to have a debate on the evidence is going to be really difficult.''

Association Education Minister and ACT's lone MP John Banks this morning said Isaac would head a five-member implementation committee.

Isaac, who was number two on ACT's list in last year's election, is the wife of the late Business Round Table head Roger Kerr and has been tipped as the next leader of the party.

Key said Banks had gotten "one step ahead of the process" and Isaac's name was "in the mix".

"I know people have sounded me out, I'm comfortable with it but the finalised appointment hasn't been made."

The Greens today criticised the pending appointment as "jobs for the Government's mate's".

However, Key said there wouldn't be many people applying for jobs if the Government rules everyone out on the basis of their political affiliations.

He did not believe it was a bad look.

"We as a Government have been quite careful with our appointments.

"There will always be some people who we know and, through our experiences and our political linkages, are appointed to positions but we have appointed lots of people who have links to our opponents."

Charter schools were not part of National's election campaign and although they were part of ACT's education policy, opponents say there is no public mandate for them because the single-MP party garnered just 1.07 per cent of the party vote.

Key said not every specific issue gets debated in an election campaign and the vast bulk of New Zealand children would not go near a charter school.

Students would be there by choice.

Education Minister Hekia Parata, who has ultimate responsibility for the trial, said the appointment shouldn't come as a surprise.

"I think it's pretty clear to the public, because it's in the confidence and supply agreement between ourselves and the ACT Party, that this was a particular initiative we would be exploring and implementing."
National was still working through details of the terms of reference for the committee.

The two trial schools were expected to be up and running by the end of this Parliamentary term in 2014.

Green education spokeswoman Catherine Delahunty today described Isaac's pending appointment as "disturbing".

"The trial now looks like a joke.

"It shows this is nothing to do with education, it's to do with the Government's agenda to turn the education system into a business opportunity."

Isaac's three terms as a school trustee did not qualify her for the role, said Delahunty who has also been a school trustee.

"This is a major political platform for education. It is a change in direction. It is not something for amateurs."

Banks this morning defended Isaac's pending appointment.

"Catherine Isaac is a well-known Wellington businesswoman who has extensive contacts within the public policy and education sector."

Suggestions her appointment was nepotism was "the negative spin of the media".

"It's someone I have confidence in and trust with, it's very sensible."

Independent charter schools are run in the United States and the United Kingdom, but are controversial because they can be owned by private businesses or community groups and are free to set their own curriculum, school term and pay levels.

- © Fairfax NZ News