KEY POINTS:
Parents paid close to $54 million more last year to run their children's schools than they did the year before, often paying to provide additional computer equipment and extra teachers.
The figure - money from parent donations and school fundraisers - is a 30 per cent rise to help pay for primary and secondary schools.
Educators say much of the cash made at fairs, auctions and gala balls also went on running sports and music programmes after school, building "extras" such as shade areas, or on scholarships.
The head of the School Trustees Association last criticised the increase, saying parents were subsidising something that was supposedly their right.
The Ministry of Education said yesterday that the proportion of parent donations had remained largely steady since 2001 at around 10 per cent of schools' total revenue.
A spokesman said the ministry did not know why the actual figure collected rose so much in a year, as schools issued their "donation demands" to parents without direction from the Government.
Government grants, including teachers' salaries and operations funding, totalled $3.9 billion last year.
Parents gave $155 million in contributions, usually called fees - a $40 million increase from 2005.
Through fundraising, parents and others in school communities paid $80 million last year - up from a little more than $65 million the previous year.
National Party education spokeswoman Katherine Rich, who revealed the figures this week, said communities were under constant pressure to contribute to "free" education.
School Trustees Association president Lorraine Kerr said parents had traditionally raised money for the "nice to haves", but were now helping to buy necessities.
"I think it's pretty poor that parents have to dig deep to subsidise what is supposedly their right."
Ms Kerr said the Government had spent about $60 million on information and communication technologies in schools.
"But we also know that parents have had to raise another $170 million to top that up."
Principals said yesterday that schools had to use a range of methods to supplement public money and provide extra resources.
Cornwall Park School principal John Houston said his school's annual fair raised $100,000.
"Part of it definitely goes towards the shortfall we believe we have in Government funding," he said.
"There's an element where our school wants to go a bit further. We try to do some things that are beyond the bread-and-butter education."
Macleans College principal Byron Bentley said the school was grateful that the majority of parents paid donations - more than $800,000 last year.
Its overseas-student numbers went against the national downward trend and raised $1.9 million last year.
The college spent extra money on teachers and equipment, plus about $300,000 a year on sports, drama and music programmes outside school time.
Other schools cast the net wider in search of extra money.
Mangere College principal John Heyes said business sponsors gave money for Year 8, 10 and 13 scholarships, to help with uniforms, books and fees. The school also applied for money from gaming trusts for projects, including a swimming pool upgrade, a closed-circuit TV system and text books for its literacy programme.
