He said education was a "major winner" in the Budget, with significant investment in school infrastructure.
Merivale School principal and Bay of Plenty Labour Party candidate Jan Tinetti, however, was disappointed.
The Budget represented a "token funding freeze lift" for education, she said.
Schools had fallen behind during the freeze, and there wasn't enough for them to catch up.
"Here at school today I've just lost a teacher aide because I can't afford to give her a pay rise and she needs it.
"We've got a very stressed service at the moment. [The new funding] will not go nearly far enough to cope with the increase in needs we are seeing."
The Budget was especially disappointing for early education, Ms Tinetti said.
"The early childhood sector is essentially going into, I think, its seventh year of the funding freeze."
Kathy Wolfe, chief executive of Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand, said the new funding kept pace with the increase in enrolments, nothing more.
"The $350.5 million announced over four years sounds like a lot, but only accounts for the simple fact that there are more children attending ECE as our population grows."
Western Bay of Plenty Principals' Association vice-president Matt Simeon spent yesterday in a Budget lock-up in Wellington with other principals.
"At first glance it feels good," he said of the 2017 Budget.
He was especially interested to hear about the Government's investments in social infrastructure, including initiatives to improve housing and children's health.
"It would free up the education sector to just focus on education, rather than trying to fix those social factors."
The $63.3m in funding over four years to support students with additional learning needs would be of interest to Bay principals.
"Learning support and special needs are at the forefront of every principal's mind at the moment," Mr Simeon said.
$1.5 billion for education - where's it going?
- $386m operating funding for early childhood over four years
- $458.9m operating funding for primary and secondary schools over four years
- $456.5m investment in school property, including six new schools
- $63.3m to support students with additional learning needs
- $7.6m for Maori language curriculum resources