Banks John: Education Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Banks John: Education Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 18 October 2012. Volume:684;Page:5985. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon JOHN BANKS (Associate Minister of Education) 
 on behalf of the Minister of Education: I move  
That the Education Amendment Bill be now read a first time 
. I nominate the Education and Science Committee to consider the bill. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! Before the Minister continues could I ask members leaving the House including the two members right behind the Minister on the National benches to please not be so discourteous as to be talking while on their feet behind the Minister who has the call. Could members leaving the House please leave quietly. 
Hon JOHN BANKS 
: At the appropriate time I will move that the bill be reported to the House and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 188 and 191(1)(b) and (c). 
 Introduction: the Government is committed to ensuring that every New Zealander has the skills and qualifications required to successfully participate in our modern society. Partnership schools kura hourua: the first objective of the bill is to provide for partnership schools. These schools are a new way of delivering public education. They will bring together the education business and community sectors to provide new education opportunities for our young people. The schools will help address one of New Zealand’s most urgent problems which is the fact that our education system works well for most but not for all. 
Equality of education is a promise long held but not quite delivered. A former Minister of Education whom members opposite should recognise once said: “… every person whatever his level of academic ability whether he be rich or poor whether he live in town or country has a right as a citizen to a free education of the kind for which he is best fitted and to the fullest extent of his powers.” That was a direct quote from  
Hansard 
 and that was the Rt Hon Peter Fraser in this House in 1939. 
Partnership schools are about delivering his promise that every young child has an opportunity for a world-class education in this country. The same ends new means—same ends new means. The bill sets out the framework for partnership schools and the topics that will be covered in the partnership school contract. It is a best-of-all-worlds model. It is informed by similar international policies that have been successful in raising achievement for disadvantaged students. A sponsor approved by the Ministry of Education will govern each partnership school. The Minister must appoint a body to advise on applications to be a sponsor. Each sponsor will be held to account through a fixed-term contract to deliver specific school-level targets negotiated with the Crown. The sponsor will be required to report learners’ progress to the parents and progress against the school-level targets set out in the contract to the Minister. The Secretary for Education will have the ability to manage concerns under the terms of the partnership school contract and the right to intervene directly proportionately to the issues affecting the education or welfare of the students. A sponsor may deliver the New Zealand curriculum or Te Marautanga o Aotearoa or an alternative curriculum that is aligned with the existing foundation curriculum policy statements. 
The school will report against national standards for year 1 to 8 students and will offer secondary qualifications agreed to in the partnership contract for students in years 9 to 13. The number of percentage of teachers registered with the Teachers Council required at the school will be agreed to in the partnership contract. All non-teaching and non-registered employees will be vetted by the police. Sponsors will be free to negotiate employment conditions including salary levels with their employees. Sponsors will be able to set their own school hours student timetables and term dates. All domestic students who apply will be enrolled regardless of their background or ability. A ballot will be used if demand exceeds available spaces in the school. 
The maximum number of students enrolled will be set out in the contract. This may be renegotiated annually with the consideration of evidence of parental demand for the school and successful delivery of agreed outcomes for the existing students. The contracts will contain more detail than the bill which instead creates a framework enumerating the important issues that must be covered. In return for meeting the conditions of the contract sponsors will receive funding and will be free to run their schools as the contract provides. 
The second objective of the bill is to safeguard students by— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. Can I just say to members that if they would like to look at Speakers’ ruling 60/5 they will note that running commentaries by members—constant heckling—is out of order. It amounts to a commentary and the members will have an opportunity to make a speech shortly. 
Hon JOHN BANKS 
: The second objective of this revolutionary piece of legislation being introduced into this Parliament today and making history is to safeguard students by establishing clear surrender and retention provisions for all State schools including integrated and partnership schools. The proposed approach will contribute to safer learning environments. The objectives underpinning the amendment to the bill are to provide schools with surrender and retention powers that contribute towards learning environments that are both safe and conducive to positive student behaviour; balance the need of teachers to effectively manage their students and provide safe learning environments with the right of students to be free from unreasonable search surrender and retention; and prohibit methods of search surrender and retention that are considered to be overly intrusive and/or invasive. 
This bill contains a number of miscellaneous amendments not directly related to the partnership schools initiative or to surrender and retention. They are firstly National Student Numbers. The National Student Number is currently allocated when a child first attends an early childhood service or starts school. This amendment will allow for a National Student Number to be allocated when a child is identified who is likely to benefit from attending an early childhood service but is unlikely to do so. 
 Flexible school timetables and alternative board constitutions: we are making changes to enable more flexible timetabling and students’ school days and we also want to allow for alternative board constitutions following a change to the school network for example following the creation of a school or after a merger of schools. 
Boards of trustees: the bill will amend the Education Act 1989 to require every school board to perform its functions and exercise its powers in such a way as to ensure that every student at the school is able to attain his or her highest possible standard in educational achievement. This amendment sets out a clear expectation of boards and ensures that student achievement is a critical consideration. The amendment to the Act will also enable the Crown to grant a lease to a third party with the third party then able to enter into a lease with a service provider. This amendment will allow the Ministry of Education to enter into direct contractual relationships with third parties. The amendment on the publishing of schools’ annual financial statements will allow the Ministry of Education to publish schools’ annual financial statements online instead of sending paper copies to relevant members of Parliament. 
This is a revolutionary piece of legislation that will give the bottom 20 percent of kids who fall through the cracks who leave school with no attainment with no education with no further school opportunities with no work training with no hope and with no opportunity and who are mostly on the dole and written off an alternative to enter into a partnership school arrangement with a party provider through the Government through the Crown with great expectations for young people. 
As Peter Fraser said in 1939 in this Parliament as I quoted every young person is entitled to a world-class education in Aotearoa New Zealand. This bill is going to put an end to the wrongs that have contributed to the 20 percent of kids in our education system who have failed. They have not failed us they have failed themselves and their families because we have not grasped the nettle early enough and we have not taken on board what Peter Fraser said in 1939: that every kid needs an opportunity for a world-class education. Partnership schools will deliver that world-class education opportunity for those kids who currently miss out.