Queenstown's option for an additional secondary school has not been affected by Associate Education Minister David Seymour’s announcement this week.
Mr Seymour announced the funding for five more charter schools to open their doors in term one of 2025, but not for Queenstown.
Three will be in Auckland, one in Kaitaia and another one in Christchurch — where one was announced last week.
Head of school at Liger Leadership Academy in Queenstown, Daniel Cooper, said it was a positive feeling to see the progression of charter schools.
"I am a fan of charter schools because I think the innovation it will bring is something we need right now.
"You look at the news, you talk to people, and it’s pretty clear that things are changing at a crazy rate all around us and education needs to evolve to be able to address that kind of stuff."
In October, the academy signed a memorandum of understanding to hand over its entire New Zealand-based curriculum to Manawaroa Education, which specialises in developing charter schools.
While the agreement was signed too late for Manawaroa Education to make an application in this round of funding, the academy is working closely with it to help it apply in the next round in March.
"Manawaroa loved us because we were doing something already future-focused, technology-driven, leadership innovation, [and] had a different type of curriculum that gave freedom and independence to kids," Mr Cooper said.
The planned move comes in response to the rising population in Queenstown, which has seen Wakatipu High School having to ask the Ministry of Education to extend the school’s capacity to 2000 students so it doesn’t run out of room in about three years’ time.
Manawaroa Education director Katherine Allsopp-Smith said if its application was successful, it would have the resources to create a charter school in Queenstown "at speed".
Mr Cooper said he was hopeful the application would be successful as "it seems clear and obvious that Queenstown needs an alternative or a choice in education."
