Consultant and columnist Jonathan Ayling discusses Labour's continued opposition to charter schools, despite New Zealand data showing they operate at lower cost than the state system. He notes the irony of Labour candidates Willie Jackson and Andrew Coster having personal links to successful charter schools, even as party policy would see such schools shut down if Labour forms the next government.

Ayling argues charter schools offer vital innovation and competition, allowing different approaches for students poorly served by the mainstream system, particularly Māori learners and those with diverse needs, while facing greater accountability than state schools. He suggests opposition is driven less by ideology than by teachers' unions protecting their influence and funding model, and calls for cross-party agreement based on outcomes rather than repeated policy reversals, pointing to recent PISA and PAT results as evidence the current curriculum reforms are already lifting achievement.

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