The Real Problem with the Green School (and also the government)

You might recall about a month ago when James Shaw proudly announced the government had agreed to pour funding into the private Green School.

You might also remember the uproar it caused. Teachers all over the country asking, “why is a private school getting hundreds of million dollars in funding when our own state schools are suffering?”

And it’s a great question to ask. The answer though, seemed to be ignored by most major media outlets, who either agreed that it was a bad decision or wanted to destroy James Shaw and his Green party for doing so.

The problem has nothing to do with James Shaw or the Green party or the government. The problem was with the actual policy itself a question that successive governments need to consider:

Why is our government investing in private businesses?

Private businesses gain all of the economic profit. It will be a small group of individuals who benefit, such as in the case of the Green school where it is whoever the owners are that will truly gain from this deal. The government doesn’t own half of the green school now, do they, or any private business they invest in?

What our government needs to do is stop building things for the sake of ‘creating jobs’ or ‘economic growth’ and instead think about what it can do to build its own assets and generate greater social benefits overall.

The way business works is they thrive or die because of consumer choice. The way the government works is to improve the well being of every person in this country, regardless of whether they have a job or not.

The government’s shovel ready projects should have been cycling ways, walking paths, new rail lines, investing in our own state schools, building new community centers and so on. In some circumstances where the government owns the business even if it is privately run, such as Air New Zealand, it may be appropriate to invest in that. It should never be appropriate for the government to pay the costs of a private business ever.

The multiplier effect shows that any cash injection into the economy will have an effect. The government needs to ensure that it will create flow-on effects for the whole of society, beyond simply having a job. It needs to ensure that we have a carbon-zero future ahead of us and an equal society with equal opportunity.

The government has mislead with its priorities. It is an opportunity for investing in some of the big challenges of the 21st century, and instead of looking to private business, they should take responsibility. It is hard for us to imagine a government that complains there just isn’t enough money and then spends $3 billion a year on a regional development fund is in genuine need.

The Green School decision isn’t a problem – it’s a symptom of a problem. No one questioned it apart from one official who did note it would be inappropriate for the government to fund a private school, but even that doesn’t address the fact that governments should not invest in private business they don’t own – they should be investing in their own universities, schools, parks and infrastructure. We could then get on with making the changes necessary to tackle poverty, climate change and make a difference for the next generation.