As part of the Government’s child wellbeing approach, the Ministry of Education gave decile 1-7 state and state-integrated schools $150 per pupil this year, but only if the schools did not ask parents for school donations.
The aim was to stop schools from charging donations for class activities, which was putting financial pressure on parents.
After the scheme was proposed, secondary school principals across Otago and Southland sent a letter to Education Minister Chris Hipkins last November, saying the scheme was "impossible to support" because $150 was not sufficient to meet the quality of education they were expected to provide.
However, new ministry figures show 105 of the 123 eligible schools in Otago and Southland opted into the scheme anyway, giving 16,099 pupils a share of $2,414,850 in government funding this year.
Next year, 107 (87.7%) of the 122 eligible schools will be part of the scheme and 16,461 pupils will have a share of $2,469,150.
Nationwide, uptake is even higher. More than 94% of eligible schools have opted to participate next year.
But the majority of them are kura, primary, intermediate and specialist schools. Only about 80.4% of secondary schools nationwide have opted in.
Otago Secondary Principals’ Association president Linda Miller believed uptake in Otago and Southland secondary schools was even less.
She said many principals remained cautious of the scheme because if they adopted it, they would experience "huge drops" in funding and would not be able to afford the rich curriculum experiences — such as outdoor education, well-equipped science laboratories, digital technology, trips for geography and history — they were providing at present.
However, some secondary schools had been forced to accept the offer.
"A lot of the parents are not paying their voluntary donations this year, so I suspect those secondary schools which are eligible for it will be going for it because they won’t be getting much from parents.
"I think it’s a Covid thing. People are pretty financially strapped at the moment."
Queen’s High School principal Barbara Agnew said her school joined last year because the scheme benefited smaller schools.
"I do think we have many small schools in our region, particularly primary schools, who definitely benefit from being in the donations scheme, so this keeps our percentage high."
Mr Hipkins said the families of more than 447,000 pupils would be better off next year.
"The $150 per student donations replacement scheme will see over $67 million in government funding go to 1664 schools nationwide next year.
"The high rates of schools signing up shows that there’s strong support in our communities for the initiative to continue.
"It’s one of the ways the Government’s putting free back into free education at a time when many families may be feeling more financial pressure due to Covid-19."
He said the donations scheme was an annual opt-in process, which meant the schools that chose not to take part could participate in a subsequent year.
