Mr Seymour, also the under-secretary for education, said yesterday four new partnership, or charter, schools were set to open in 2019, joining 10 existing partnership schools and the two set to open next year. Mr Hipkins said the schools would not open in 2019 if there was a change in government.
"This is a desperate last roll of the dice.
"Labour has been clear: the charter school model will be abolished.
"It is totally irresponsible to sign up these schools because if there is a change in government, this model won’t be entertained," he told the Otago Daily Times.
A spokesman for Mr Seymour said contracts were signed and Labour should not be able to stop the schools from opening.
Mr Seymour said the growth of the partnership schools-kura hourua policy had been significant.
"When I started as under-secretary there were just five partnership schools. Soon there will be 16, teaching students from Whangarei to Christchurch."
The four schools are:
• City Senior School in central Auckland, which will be for boys and girls in years 11-13 and have a maximum roll of 300 pupils.
• Turanga Tangata Tire in Gisborne, a Maori-focused school for boys and girls in years 9-11 with a maximum roll of 55 pupils.
• Vanguard Military School in Christchurch, a military-based school for boys and girls in years 9-11 with a maximum roll of 210 pupils.
• Waatea High in South Auckland, a bilingual Maori and English school for boys and girls in years 9-13 with a maximum roll of 145 pupils.
One of the schools is to be run by an organisation associated with Labour candidate Willie Jackson. Te Whare Wananga O Muma is a subsidiary of the Manukau Urban Maori Authority, which is run by Willie Jackson, who is standing on the list for Labour.
Mr Jackson’s involvement in charter schools puts him in a difficult position because of his party’s opposition to the schools.
Post Primary Teachers Association president Jack Boyle said charter schools were failing children.
"These new charter schools in central and south Auckland, Gisborne and Christchurch will affect all the school communities around them by taking money, teachers and children away from local schools."
Opening charter schools was not going to raise the achievement of children, he said. It was not going to close any gaps or level any playing fields.
The only thing charter schools did successfully was reward mediocrity by using scarce education money to prop up private owners, Mr Boyle said.
