A new funding system for schools and teachers has been proposed by the Government, including a "global" salary system already being criticised by the secondary schools union.
In consultation documents published on the Ministry of Education's website, the department proposes a new funding system with "the potential to increase flexibility in schools' use of funding while simplifying funding arrangements".
The change would set a "global budget" for each school, delivered as cash instalments for school expenses, and a credit system for salaries.
According to the documents, this would mean:
• Principals would determine the split between cash and credit, with the flexibility to make adjustments during the year.
• Unspent credit would be paid out at the end of the year and a process for recovering credit overspends would be established.
• Teaching staff salaries would be charged against the "credit" portion at an average rate.
• Non-teaching staff salaries would be charged against the "credit" portion at actual cost.
The global budget system would not be the same as the controversial bulk funding of teacher salaries that sparked protests 20 years ago, the proposal said. The documents said: "This is a significant difference from historical bulk funding proposals which would have seen schools charged the actual salary."
However, Post Primary Teachers Association president Angela Roberts has criticised the proposal, saying it would mean schools were incentivised to hire fewer teachers so they had more money to spend elsewhere.
"School are going to be in the terrible position of trying to make decisions about how to pay for the entire school to run and there will be significant pressure on them to reduce their staffing costs, both teacher aides and teachers," she told RNZ.
Teachers and parents had rejected bulk funding 20 years ago, Ms Roberts told the state broadcaster, and she expected they would do the same with this proposal.
The consultation documents are part of the Government's Education Funding Review, which has also proposed scrapping the decile system and targeting funding to at-risk children.
The proposals are open to consultation until August, with a report due back to Cabinet by October. Any changes would not be fully implemented until the 2020 school year.
Global budget system
Explaining the global budget system, the Cabinet paper states: "The arrangement differs from the bulk funding of teacher salaries that was experimented with during the 1990s.
"Under the bulk funding arrangement, actual teacher salaries were charged to individual schools. With the global budget concept there would be no change to the current industrial relations settings of the system.
"School staff would continue to be employed by schools with salary rates negotiated centrally by the Ministry. Salaries would be charged against school funding allowances at an average cost and schools would not need to manage the financial risk associated with changes in their workforce."
But it does note a potential risk of the proposal is that "the sector may misconstrue the proposals as a move towards bulk funding".
Among the other proposals is a plan to move to a standard "per-child" funding model, that would see schools receive a set amount per child, with those deemed 'at-risk' given additional funding.
It also suggests private schools have their subsidy set at a fixed percentage of the state school "per child" funding amount "to ensure ongoing diversity of choice to parents/whanau and greater certainly to providers".
"The impact of the global financial crisis can clearly be seen in the shrinkage of this sector [by about 8.1 per cent, from a total roll of 30,920 in 2008 to 28,401 in 2015] as part of our overall education system."
Bulk funding in disguise, say Greens
Green Party education spokeswoman Catherine Delahunty said the global budget proposal was "bulk funding in disguise" which would create "perverse incentives to cut staffing".
"It's a really bad idea, [which] is going to hurt those who're already hurting the most in education," she said, saying it would create "a lot of difficult choices and dilemmas for schools".
"Basically the poorer the schools, the tougher those choices they have to face about what to fund and what not to fund."
Low decile schools, in particular, would come under greater pressure to cut things like teacher aides, and even teaching staff, she said.
"This could result in bigger classes, which the Minister might support but New Zealand parents have rejected."
There was no demand for global funding from the education sector or parents, she said. "We can't see how it's going to benefit children, which is the ultimate test."
A global funding model implemented in Australia's Northern Territory had been "very unpopular", Ms Delahunty said, and had led to staff cuts and increased class sizes.
It also creates higher risk on individual schools, she said, "especially if you combine that with school budgets being frozen or cuts in real terms, which is what we've seen in this latest budget".
She also criticised the funding proposal for private schools, saying it was "extra funding in disguise".
"It seems as if, because private schools have been shrinking the Government's desperate to protect them, which is not their job. I thought it was all about choice, if parents are not choosing private schools then why should the state put more money in.
"They'd be better off putting that money into the low decile state schools and ensuring that children who are not privileged get access to the benefits of education -- that's supposed to be the goal."
Ministry seeks more flexibility
The Ministry of Education's deputy secretary Ellen MacGregor-Reid said no decisions had been made in regards to the funding proposals, and it welcomed the feedback and views of education unions and others.
"That's why the funding advisory group has been set up," she said.
The global budget proposal was "not bulk funding", Ms MacGregor-Reid said.
"We want to test whether there is a way to provide more flexibility to schools to allow them to better access the range of expertise they need; share expertise and simplify administrative processes.
"Under this proposal schools would receive a total [global] budget, rather than separate operational grant funding and a staffing entitlement. In setting a school's budget an average cost for a fulltime teacher equivalent would be used."
This approach was "designed to prevent the driving down of teacher salary levels", she said.
The ministry also wanted to explore whether a direct link between "per-student" funding for state schools and per-student subsidy for private schools was a better approach to fund private schools, she said.
"It is too early in the process to say what the per-student funding amount would be for students attending state schools, or the percentage of this that would be provided for students attending private schools."
- NZ Herald
