National seems to have chosen charter schools as their hill to die on. Their supposed reason for this is that they're "better" than state schools. They're certainly better-funded, because National chose to fund their pet project at several times the usual level in an effort to ensure success. But as for educational quality, it's a different story:
A former student of a Villa Education Trust private school claims creationism was taught as a preferred theory of how the world began in science classes he attended.
The student from Mt Hobson Middle School said Darwinism was taught as an unproven theory and students were shown a video purporting to show science had found proof of God's existence.
His impression was the school backed the concept of creationism “100 percent”.
I think that speaks for itself about the "quality" of these "schools". As for why National funded this quackery, there's this:
The science teacher was Rachel O’Connor, sister of National Party leader Simon Bridges and wife of National MP Simon O’Connor.
So we have millions of dollars of public money wasted to promote the personal quackery of National MPs and ensure jobs for their families. That's not what New Zealanders expect from their government. The sooner these quack schools are shut down, the better.
