10. Question No. 10—EducationHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of EducationQuestion No. 10—Education10. Hon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of Education: What advice if any has he received on the potential estimated cost of implementing recommendations in the report by the Tomorrow's Schools Independent Taskforce?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): The Government only received the final task force report in the last few weeks. We asked the task force to release it and seek public submissions. Once that process is complete detailed costings will be prepared to inform the decision-making process.Hon Nikki Kaye: Is he really confirming that the task force did no work on costings and that no Government agencies have given any formal view on what the proposals will cost?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: That wasn't what the question asked. The question asked what advice I had received rather than what officials had done working with the task force. I'm not sure what costing information the officials provided to the task force. That's a matter of conversation between them.Hon Nikki Kaye: What is the legal status of the 2400 boards of trustees representing around 19000 parents under the task force proposals?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Well under the task force proposals they'd continue to be Crown entities but that's a matter for discussion. The proposals the task force have put forward are bold and I certainly look forward to the conversation about whether or not there is acceptance that that's the right way to go.Hon Nikki Kaye: Does he agree with Avondale College principal Brent Lewis who referred to the proposals as real Stalinist stuff"?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No I don't agree with that. I do agree with Lorraine Kerr from the School Trustees Association however who said that an ideal outcome will be enough change to enable school boards of trustees to perform their strategic governance roles on behalf of the local community without constantly getting tied up in the compliance aspects of running the business activities of the school.Hon Nikki Kaye: Is he concerned that under the proposals the power of parents will be significantly reduced and they will be disempowered under this model?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'm looking forward to hearing what parents have to say about that. One of the things that the task force found was that parents who serve on boards of trustees have often found that the job is much bigger than they thought they were taking on when they do it. They put their hands up to be involved in school governance thinking that they are there to improve the quality of the education their kids get and then they find themselves tied up in complex legal discussions about the leaky buildings that they might have inherited from a previous administration or a whole host of other administrative issues that they're not actually that keen to be involved with and they would much prefer someone else to be involved with so that they can focus on the job that they actually thought they were putting their hands up for. The public submissions process is an opportunity to have all of those conversations. I do acknowledge the concerns the member has raised about the importance of ensuring that parents don't feel disempowered through this process. I agree with that. I think it's incredibly important that we continue to empower parents and their involvement in their kids' education. That's one of the things that this Government will be looking at very closely as we consider the public submissions process."