Key backs schools

Funding for private schools could almost double under a National government.

In what could be a controversial move, National leader John Key said yesterday he believed there was a strong argument for increasing funding for independent schools, from $40 million to around $70m a year.

The virtual doubling of funding for private schools would be the first time their taxpayer funding has increased since Labour froze it in 1999.

Key's own children attend private schools in Auckland, but he said on TVNZ's Agenda programme yesterday this was not the reason he wanted to increase the funding.

"Our children go to independent schools, but when I look at the friends of our children they don't come from well-off households.

"They in fact come from middle New Zealand where they're going without a holiday or some other expenditure because they value education."

Key denied he was planning to undermine the state education system by pumping more money into private schools, saying it was about providing choice for parents.

"It's an extremely elitist policy at the moment the current Labour government's got, that locks middle New Zealand out. We believe in choice and freedom."

Key also said National had also made it clear it wanted public-private partnerships involved in infrastructure development in the education sector.

However, he all but ruled out a return to the controversial bulk-funding system for teachers' salaries, saying it was unlikely it would be part of National's programme.

"We've looked at it pretty carefully. We do want to try and deliver a system which gives more flexibility to schooling, but I think the issue around bulk funding is a bit of a kind of 1990s argument versus 21st century perspective that we want to take."

Key said that after taking the mood of teachers and principals, he believed a new model of "some flexibility in a slightly higher trust, less regulatory model" could work.

- © Fairfax NZ News