Former St Cuthbert’s College principal Justine Mahon will lead an establishment board aiming to introduce a new charter school model expected to be in place by the start of next year.

It comes as Associate Education Minister David Seymour says he wants to ensure charter schools are bedded in and more common so it’s harder for the “cowardly Labour Party” to ditch the model if it is returned to power.

Mahon has been named the chairwoman of the Charter School/Kura Hourua Establishment Board and would lead a team of eight providing strategic oversight and advice to the Ministry of Education on the implementation of charter schools, which were introduced in 2012 and run until they were scrapped once Labour came into government in 2017.

Mahon, who left the Auckland private school this year, told the Herald she supported how charter schools, also known as partnership schools or Kura Hourua, provided further choice for students and parents, saying more variety was fundamental to a vibrant democracy.

“I don’t think anyone can argue that the more models we have that serve children well the better.”

She was confident the model could be established ahead of term one next year and echoed Seymour’s desire to make the schools sustainable.

“It’s very disruptive for educators and for students if the model changes.”

Seymour announced the board appointments via a press release today, saying the new model would be informed by the “pilot” set up under the National-led government with Act in 2012.

“Notably, charter schools were subject to high levels of monitoring and accountability and were shut down when they did not achieve the outcomes they were funded to achieve. State schools don’t have this accountability,” he said in the release.

“I hope and intend to see many new charter schools opening, and state and state-integrated schools converting to become charter schools.”

As part of their coalition agreement, National and Act agreed to reintroduce charter schools as well as allowing state schools to convert into charter schools. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s recently released second-quarter plan committed to introducing relevant legislation by June 30.

David Seymour is a big advocate for charter schools. Photo / Dean Purcell

Speaking to the Herald last week, Seymour said he wanted to build a community of charter schools to make it challenging for a future government to scrap them.

“Frankly, the previous government as it turned out was very happy to take away a dozen small schools filled with poor brown kids who never got a chance, they just whipped it away without even checking if they’re working.

“This time, they’re going to find that it’s going to be a range of schools from a range of communities at a range of sizes and the cowardly Labour Party won’t be able to face them down so easily.”

He said almost all charter schools under the original regime had indicated their enthusiasm for the change.

Mahon said the board would be working to set school performance measures and how the funding structure would work. She didn’t have any specifics on those aspects as yet.

She admitted it was a “tight timeframe” but was confident there would be “several” charter schools ready to go by term one, 2025. She wouldn’t name what schools they might be.

Mahon said it would be important for schools to show they added value to students’ education.

Justine Mahon stepped away as principal earlier this year. Photo / Supplied

Asked how long was needed to assess whether value was added, Mahon said that could be done after 12 months with respect to academic achievement and testing whether schooling environments were safe and functional.

However, she said assessment of the overall model wouldn’t be appropriate within such a short timeframe and it should be given space to improve.

Labour education spokeswoman Jan Tinetti said she would want to see charter schools removed if Labour returned to power but was not yet clear on how the removal process would occur.

Tinetti, the former education minister, admitted the education system had struggled under historical changes but believed adding charter schools would only deepen inequities between schools and undervalue the state system.

Board members: Justine Mahon (chair), Glen Denham, John Fiso ONZM, Dr Nina Hood, Neil Paviour-Smith, Rōpata Taylor, Doran Wyatt, Professor Elizabeth Rata.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.