Northland College board fixing oversight which led to law breach

Northland College's board of trustees have applied to hold shares which it originally acquired without the necessary permissions. Photo / File

Northland College's board has now applied to hold shares which were initially acquired without permission, leading to a law breach.

The breach was highlighted in the Office of the Auditor General's recently released report on the 2018 school audits.

In the report the Audit Office highlighted that the Northland College board had breached the law because it had failed to get permission from the ministers of Education and Finance before it acquired securities - shares in Fonterra, Ballance, and LIC of $449,388 relating to the school's dairy farm.

Board chairwoman Kelly Yakas said the board had limited authority until recently as it had been under statutory management but when the issue was brought to the board's attention, it acted straight away and has applied to hold the shares.

"We've been working with the ministry to make sure we are compliant with the legislation," she said.

Yakas said the new board has turned the school around from a working capital deficit to a positive working capital and, as a result of the progress, made the ministry had recently decided to revoke the statutory intervention of Northland College.

Yakas also said this year was the first time in nine years the school's annual accounts were submitted to the auditor and ministry on time.

"That doesn't happen without a lot of hard work."

Katrina Casey, Ministry of Education deputy secretary sector enablement and support, said the ministry received the school's application in April and the approval process was almost complete.

"There is no financial impact to the school as this is a governance and compliance matter that is being addressed."

The Audit Office also drew attention to "serious financial difficulties" facing Matauri Bay School and Omanaia School.

Matauri Bay School's new principal, Jared Nordstrom, and Board of Trustees chairwoman Dannie Samuels-Thomas said the school was under new management as of February 19 and the 2018 audit was the responsibility of the former principal.

Nordstrom and Samuels-Thomas said the school has engaged with the Ministry of Education to address the audit findings and the Ministry-appointed financial advisor was pleased with the progress made.

"Specific systems are in place to stop the working capital ratio from falling below in future," the pair said.

Meanwhile, Omanaia School principal Jon Smith said the debt was inherited by the school's previous administration and the school was well on track to paying it off.

The Audit Office also said its audit of Christian Renewal School in Whangārei was limited because the school had not recorded a provision for cyclical maintenance which helps schools to identify the funds needed for certain types of maintenance.

Rodney Lloyd, principal of Christian Renewal School, said the school was in the process of renewing the 10-year property plan (10YPP) at the time of the auditor's report. He said cyclical maintenance was outlined in the previous 10YPP, but there was some misunderstanding about this and the five-year agreement with the new auditor.

"As an integrated school, we do not have the same requirements regarding property as state schools. However, I moved that we get a 10YPP done last year by LM Consulting which we received in July 2019."