Is Educentre effectively the privatisation of education?
Not really. Socialism is about people voting for something which increases fairness and equality. It’s about giving the government of the day a mandate and the money to get the job done. In this respect Educentre changes nothing. What Educentre does is to give the government and local authorities new options in how to get the job done. The public sector still pays via the lease rental but it only pays if parents want the Educentre service. So Educentre is about achieving a socialist goal expressed through the ballot box by giving the people who actually use the service more choice. Yes, it might cause a bit of a headache to local authorities in the short term if educentres are very successful, or indeed if other private operators are successful in the same area. Local authorities will have to juggle their provision and manage the transition. But that is what we vote them in to do. That’s their job. A few short term transitional difficulties is a small price to pay for ending long term
