Principals want decile review

By Anna Bowden
Parents of pupils at high-decile schools have to pay more cash to educate their children than those at low-decile schools.
While the needs and resources of their communities are vastly different, Bay principals are united in a call for a review of operations funding.
The decile rating scheme sees 280 schools placed in each category, with decile one reserved for the most needy communities. The rating is based on household income, occupation, household crowding, educational qualifications and income support.
The rating has nothing to do with the quality of the school's teaching or learning. But decile one schools get up to $760 more per student than decile 10 schools.
For Pillans Point School principal Ian Fletcher, the difference is about $280,000. His total operations grant for this year was $339,793.
However, he said the needs of low-decile school pupils often required more resources because of a higher number of children needing extra work in lessons such as literacy. "I don't have that problem so I don't have the cost."
Decile 10 school Matua Primary principal Phil Friar said decile 10 schools were generally rich on parent resources - "we can't put a price on that" - who helped with reading groups, trips and other class ventures.
This was something he considered an advantage and a money saver over low-decile schools.
"I would agree that parents of decile 10 school students do pay more from their pocket to educate their children," he said.
"I believe there is an equity issue, I'm not suggesting low-decile schools should get less but high-decile schools should be funded to an extent that they don't have to rely on entrepreneurial skills."
Mr Friar said that fundraising depended on how you promoted school events. His school worked creatively to avoid asking the same people for contributions.
The Bay's Merivale School is decile 1A, meaning it is one of the poorest communities in the country. Principal Jan Tinetti said there simply was no money to fundraise within the community.
"I know that in the past fundraisers have fallen flat because money is just not there, we just don't have that available to us," she said.
"There is absolutely a need for a review, even the amount we are given is not going to cover the needs of these children. In a perfect world community groups wouldn't have to be funding education and parents wouldn't have to fund education ... "
The Education Ministry published changes to schools' operational funding for 2007 earlier this month.
It is increasing by $27 million per year for New Zealand schools and the money will contribute to base funding, per-pupil funding and decile-related funding.
But the extra money will not necessarily result in a 3 per cent increase for every school, as each component is allocated differently. Bay principals believe a complete review is necessary.