Parents Concerned About Coalition Plan For Schools Keen on the Western Australia model: Christopher Pyne. Photo: Andrew Meares A push by a federal Coalition government to turn public schools into independent schools could impose a heavy burden on staff and parents and lead to a "two-tiered" government system, according to an alliance of parent groups in NSW. The presidents of six Parents and Citizens Association district councils have written a joint letter to federal Coalition MPs seeking urgent detail on one of their key education policies - to "encourage state schools to choose to become independent schools." Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne has said he would like to see other states pursue a model similar to that in Western Australia, where the government has created a category called "independent public schools." In WA, schools can apply to become an IPS, giving them autonomy over budgets and staffing and more discretion over the curriculum. They are managed partly by a school board, remain publicly funded and cannot charge compulsory fees. The parents' alliance raised concerns about the impact of any such change. School principals were appointed for their educational leadership, not for business management skills. They need to stay focused on ensuring great educational outcomes for the students, not be distracted by additional administrative burdens," the letter says. Acting president of the Northern Sydney Council of P&Cs, Steph Croft, said some schools might struggle to find parents and community members who had the spare time and the appropriate management skills to sit on school boards. "Even in communities with very highly skilled people, it's very, very hard," she said. The letter also raised concerns about why the Coalition would pursue a model similar to that of US charter schools, given that the US does not perform well on education rankings by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and that Finland performs much better. "One of the world benchmarks for educational excellence is Finland ... the Finns do not have private schools nor segregated selective schools - nor do they have charter or independent schools," the letter says. Rather than let one section of education fall behind because of a lack of funding or attention, the Finns lift the education of all students. The letter queries what safeguards could be used to stop a "two-tiered" system developing between public schools that were independent and those that weren't. In a written response Mr Pyne told Fairfax Media the Coalition would not pursue a "one-size fits all" approach and had no intention to force schools that did not have "the capacity or the desire to become more autonomous" to do so. He said greater autonomy allowed principals to be more responsive to the educational needs of students. "Principals I have met in Western Australia rave about the freedom they have to create programs and drive school reforms, benefiting not just the school and students but the community at large," he said. Some of the greatest success stories have been in low [socio-economic status] schools. An evaluation of the WA policy by the University of Melbourne found principals felt it had "enhanced the functioning of their school" but they were concerned it had given some schools an advantage over others. The NSW Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli, has already opposed the federal Coalition's policy, telling Fairfax Media last month that NSW would not go along with any plan to introduce "charter schools or independent public schools because there is no evidence that they improve student performance."