New Zealand's state schools have been self-managing since 1989, with government agencies playing a more limited role in terms of support than in other countries. This radical change was intended to improve education and make it more responsive and equitable. These goals have not been achieved. In 2018, the Labour-led government asked for an independent review of its schooling system, as part of an ambitious government programme to improve education. The first report from the Tomorrow's Schools Independent Taskforce came out in late 2018. Martin Thrupp made major contributions to New Zealand education as both a researcher and a public intellectual drawing attention to inequitable provision, and the need for respect and support for the teaching profession. In early 2019 he and Katrina McChesney used a series of four "Ipu Kereru" blogs to draw attention to the wide sweeping recommendations of this report to encourage submissions during the consultation period following. While they were positive about quite a few of the recommendations, Martin and Katrina critiqued the emphasis given to equity in the framing of the first report, seeing this as inviting pushback from the often-powerful leaders and parents who are more interested in positional rather than common good. They questioned the wisdom of situating all schools within hubs that provided both support and oversight. They thought that insufficient attention had been paid to the undermining emphasis on managerialism evident in the central government agencies. As one of the five members of this independent review, I provide some reflection on Martin and Katrina's critique, in relation to what transpired in the second report, after the consultation. While this second report's recommendations were largely accepted by the government, implementation has been limited, not least because of the managerialist approach of the Ministry of Education, coupled with the lack of additional resources.