Education Legislation Bill 2015 introduced   26 Nov 2015

Hon Hekia Parata
Minister of Education

26 November 2015

Education Legislation Bill 2015 introduced

Education Minister Hekia Parata says the Education Legislation Bill 2015 introduced today will amend eight statutes to improve administrative and governance arrangements for educational entities and funding organisations across the education sector.

Ms Parata says the Bill includes several improvements already signalled by the Government, as well as aligning the law with modern language and practices.

Such changes include allowing schools to change their opening hours with the agreement of their community.

“This change gives schools the opportunity for more flexibility in their timetables to cater to the particular needs of their school and students,” Ms Parata says.

“The Bill will also allow licensed home-based early childhood education providers to offer out of school care to school-age children. This will increase parental choice and will better support workforce participation by parents with both early childhood and school-aged children.”

Also included in the Bill:

· allowing the National Student Number to be used for the purpose of establishing and maintaining student identities to support student participation in online learning

· enabling a principal to be employed to manage more than one school

· allowing the State Services Commissioner to approve generic or specific terms and conditions of employment that are additional to, but not inconsistent with, those in a collective agreement

· removing unnecessary operational specifications relating to the provision of payroll services to school boards, while retaining the obligation on the Secretary for Education to provide for payroll services

· addressing procedural matters relating to Partnership Schools | Kura Hourua

· allowing tertiary institutions to sponsor Partnership Schools | Kura Hourua

· update of the Ngarimu VC and 28th (Maori) Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund Act 1945 to ensure the fund remains relevant into the 21st century

· update of the Pacific Islands Polynesian Education Foundation Act 1972 to ensure that it continues to be relevant for Pacific peoples and runs efficiently.

The omnibus Bill includes amendments to the following legislation:

The Education Act 1989
The Education Act 1964
The State Sector Act 1988
The Crown Entities Act 2004
The Fee and Charging Allowances Act 1951
The Ngarimu VC and 28th (Maori) Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund Act 1945
The Pacific Islands Polynesian Education Foundation Act 1972
The Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975

“This Bill will modernise and improve administrative and governance arrangements across our education sector and ensure that it reflects New Zealand now and into the future,” says Ms Parata.

These changes are separate to the public consultation on proposals to update the Education Act 1989. Decisions on this will be made once the public consultation ends on 14 December.

ends

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