Parents may have to top up school budgets

Steve Hayward
Steve Hayward
Families may have to pay more as schools face an operations grant freeze that threatens pupils' education.

The Government froze operational funding at $1.38 billion in Budget 2016 so it could target extra resources at disadvantaged pupils.

An extra $10 million per year will go to about 150,000 at-risk pupils, defined as those from long-term welfare-dependent families.

The Government said it would mean schools receiving the extra funding would get four times as much per pupil, compared to if the money was paid out across the board.

However, Green Island School principal Steve Hayward said it would have a major impact on school budgets, and believed parents would have to pay more to help schools balance the books.

Mr Hayward said it was the second time in two years his school had been hit with significant funding issues. The school's decile was changed from decile four to six in 2014, meaning a drop in funding of about $10,000 per year, and now the operations budget had been frozen.

Mr Hayward said the freeze meant the school had less money to pay for the increasing costs of things like electricity and teacher aides.

He said teacher aides were owed yearly wage increases, and if the school could not find the money, it would have to reduce the number of hours teacher aides worked with pupils.

"That's going to impact in a negative way on the education of students.

"For the Government to say they are trying to raise student achievement, and they're concerned that no child should be left behind ... well seriously, we're still trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

"The money is not going as far as it used to. We're going to have to go to the parents.''

He said the school had an activity account for parents of $25 a year to cover things like field trips and visiting performers.

"Increasing parental donations will be one of the options that the board of trustees will have to consider.

"Parents will have to pay more or the quality of education will suffer. I can't see how we can carry on doing what we're already doing.''

Logan Park High School principal Jane Johnson said rather than ask parents to cover the increasing costs of education, her school would undergo a major budget reshuffle.

She, too, said the school would struggle to keep up with inflationary pressures such as pay rises for support staff, which included teacher aides, laboratory assistants, office staff, home-stay co-ordinators and special needs home room unit staff.

"Every year, they have a right for their hourly rate to go up. But if we're not going to be given that amount to cover the yearly increments for up to seven or eight support staff - even possibly more - then we have to find those increments from the existing budget.''

She said the problem could not be solved by charging parents more fees.

"We're legally not allowed to charge parents fees.

"The money they give is donations.''

She said the only alternative source of funding was the targeted funding for those in long-term welfare-dependent families.

"There are 150,000 [targeted] students, and one expert has said you would need 20 targeted students at your school to make the difference between what you lose in terms of topping up the operations grant.''

Kaikorai Valley College principal Rick Geerlofs said schools had become adept at running on "the smell of an oily rag''.

"Schools have struggled for quite some time to try to provide quality education, given the financial constraints that we are under.

"But we do so through the goodwill of our teachers, our parents and our boards.

"Schools are starting to get really good at running on the smell of an oily rag, but it concerns me that we're required to do so.

"There will come a time when this won't be sustainable anymore.''

john.lewis@odt.co.nz

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