Northland principals welcome new equity funding but warn it may not be enough

Pat Newman, Te Tai Tokerau Principals Association president and Hora Hora Primary School principal, said the extra funding would be a big help but more was needed. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Northland principals are welcoming a new way of funding schools, but worry the extra money it provides may not be enough.

The new Equity Index scheme the Government announced on Thursday will replace the existing decile system and result in more funding for schools in deprived areas.

The average funding increase for schools and kura in Te Tai Tokerau - due to kick in next year - would be the highest in the country, at $223 per pupil.

Te Tai Tokerau Principals' Association president Pat Newman said the extra funding was welcome but it was still not enough.

"It will be a big help and I am delighted to get it, but we're only getting some of what we need.

"The great news is we're finally receiving recognition of our true need.

"It's something we've been yelling about for at least 20 years, two decades, if not longer, saying that the needs of the North are not being covered."

Equity funding for Hora Hora School, where Newman is principal, would jump from $160,000 this year to $301,000 next year.

He said they would look at the specific needs of the children to target funding, which could be used for their social or health needs as well as learning.

The major issue facing Northland schools was that they were entitled to fewer teachers after a reduction in rolls due to students not returning after Covid.

The Equity Index system replaces the decile system, which Northland Secondary Principals' Association president Alec Solomon said was a big step in the right direction.

"The decile system was either a stigma or a sales pitch, depending on where you were on it and it wasn't a kaupapa that tried to match resource to need, whereas this is.

"I'm delighted, I commend the Ministry for this step - it's not even a step in the right direction, it's more of a run."

Alec Solomon, Northland Secondary Principals' Association president, welcomed the change from the decile system to the Equity Index. Photo / Tania Whyte

Solomon, who is principal of Tikipunga High School, said he and other principals in the region were still trying to work out exactly what it meant for them.

"It looks like it will provide more resourcing, the level of which I'm not sure. There's been a change in the terminology of the funding.

"But as far as a compass bearing this is absolutely the direction we in Te Tai Tokerau, need.

"But it will always be a challenge in Northland to have resources to meet the need."

Northland schools had been pushing for more equity funding for longer than the nine years he had been involved in it, Solomon said.

Nearly 90 per cent of schools nationally would receive an increase in funding under the new system, Minister of Education Chris Hipkins said in a statement.

In many parts of the country, the average increase was much less than in Northland.

"Schools and kura in Te Tai Tokerau have the biggest average increase of around $223.11 per pupil," Hipkins said.

"At the other end schools and kura in Auckland will receive an average increase of $6.25 extra per pupil, an increase that reflects the incredible diversity in the city."

Rather than a decile, schools will be allocated an equity ranking under the new system based on a range of factors.

The funding changes would include an expansion of an existing school donations scheme and school lunches scheme.

Some schools at the less-deprived end of the scale would receive the same or less funding under the new scheme.

Newman said he suspected no schools in Northland would fit into this category, as there were few in the highest deciles under the old scheme.