Councils fill cash gap for Enviroschools

Three of the four main Auckland councils have agreed to pay extra next year to keep teacher aides in schools on a programme to help children learn about recycling, saving water and growing their own food.

But regional council ratepayers will have to pick up the tab for any Auckland City schools that want to stay in the Enviroschools programme, unless the city council surprises organisers with more money.

Auckland City has 32 of the 158 participating Auckland schools in its area but last financial year it paid $9300 for two schools to take part.

The Government and the Auckland Regional Council paid the rest.

When the Education Ministry scrapped its funding this year, Manukau, North Shore and Waitakere city councils agreed to give $40,000 to $90,000 more each to keep the programme running in their areas.

Enviroschools Foundation national director Heidi Mardon said its national office would not be asking Auckland City for more money.

"The councils that value the programme and understand it ... are putting extra money in because they really don't want to lose it," she said. "It is not the time to be bringing on reluctant councils."

Funding for the environmental education and leadership scheme until next month was a joint effort by councils and the ministry.

Ms Mardon said the ARC had been "filling in the gaps" in city council funding.

More than 600 schools throughout New Zealand took part.

In June, Auckland City Mayor John Banks told the Herald that if the Government did not see any merit in continuing the funding, he did not see why ratepayers should.

That stance appeared to have softened yesterday. A spokesman said the council was "investigating the possibility of providing further assistance" to the programme.

The Government announced in June it was ending its $4.6 million Enviroschools contract, which was to have run from January 2007 to June next year.

The cut would have affected about 20 teaching facilitators who travelled between schools running environment programmes, but Ms Mardon said the Auckland programme was now "looking really strong" thanks to the extra money from councils.