Councillors attending Monday's infrastructure services committee will consider a proposal to increase funding for the Enviroschools programme for 2009-10 by $30,000, from $40,000 to $70,000.
The move comes after the Government, in its May budget, announced plans to scrap all Education for Sustainability funding, which paid the Government's half of the cost of the Enviroschools programme, a report by council education and promotions officer Jenny Neilson said.
The Government's decision meant its contribution would drop from $40,000 to just $10,000 this year, leaving a $30,000 shortfall in the 2009-10 budget.
The funding paid for one part-time assistant regional co-ordinator, three facilitators, and training required to run the programme.
Ms Neilson's report recommended absorbing the shortfall into the council's solid waste budget, which had been underspent for the past two years.
A failure to do so would mean the council did not achieve a target in its resource recovery and waste management strategy, adopted in 2006, to educate young people on waste and environmental issues, she said.
Twenty-nine Dunedin schools, and 43 across Otago, were enrolled in the Enviroschools programme, which aimed to encourage sustainable practices.
Another 15 schools had contacted the council to request information on joining the programme in the past year, Ms Neilson said.
