KEY POINTS:
Education Minister Steve Maharey has apologised to teachers for a sudden funding change which has left many schools hundreds of thousands of dollars worse off without warning.
Schools were last week mailed the results of a five-yearly decile review, the system which ranks schools from 1 (the poorest) to 10 (the richest). Lower-ranked schools get more Government support.
One school is reportedly facing a loss of $270,000 in Government funding and only three months to plan to cushion the landing.
Those worst affected may have to alter or even cut school programmes they have been planning for months.
Mr Maharey told the New Zealand Educational Institute annual meeting yesterday that the union, which represents primary teachers, should have been consulted.
"I'm a bit seriously pissed off with this myself," he said in response to a question from the floor.
"Somehow you didn't get that consultation this year so just accept my fundamental apologies that you should have.
"Having said that, it is rolling out so we'll just have to work with what we've got."
The Education Ministry will be contacting schools that may find the transition difficult, "and then we'll have a discussion about how we handle that".
Institute vice-president Frances Nelson said she was impressed with Mr Maharey's admission, "because I felt exactly the same ... though I'm going to be pissed off longer than you" as her school was losing $80,000 from next year.
The ministry reviews decile rankings every five years - a year after each Census - and considers socio-economic factors. If the decile changes, funding alters accordingly.
The Post Primary Teachers Association was also crying foul yesterday about being left out of the loop.
"We're pretty disappointed and very concerned," president Robin Duff said.
"We had no idea the review was happening. Secondary schools establish programmes and policies based on a certain level of funding, and then all of a sudden it's gone.
"To develop the best courses and conditions for young people and then to lose a few hundred thousand - it's dramatic and traumatic."
Institute president Irene Cooper said a cluster of schools in Otahuhu had collectively lost $500,000.
"It's gone from decile 1 to 2; the community has changed," she said.
"When I looked at the list, the biggest loser is a secondary school losing $270,000.
"The biggest primary school loser is $114,000.
"It's not a huge number of schools, but last time they did this we organised a transition period so schools had 15 months to prepare."
Ministry spokesman Iain Butler said Education Secretary Karen Sewell would meet both the NZEI and PPTA early next week to discuss the decile changes.
"It is important to remember that roughly the same number of schools will see decile rating increase as decrease, while many will not change at all."
