Parent courses face cash cuts

Parenting courses that were a centrepiece of the National Party's pre-election "fresh start" policy appear to have had their funding axed in Budget cuts to adult education.

Courses ranging from antenatal classes to programmes for parents struggling with difficult teenagers have been caught up, possibly inadvertently, in the Budget decision to cut adult and community education funding by 80 per cent from next year.

Education Minister Anne Tolley said last month the Government would stop funding "hobby and personal interest courses" and would focus the remaining 20 per cent of the current funding more tightly on "literacy, numeracy and foundation levels of education".

Parenting courses appear to have been overlooked because many are funded indirectly through the 9.5 per cent of adult education funding which schools must pass on to community groups.

In West Auckland, schools distribute the money collectively and give out $131,152 a year to 27 groups - including parenting classes at parents' centres, Parent Trust, the Workers' Educational Association and local community centres.

Parents Centre NZ chief executive Viv Gurrey said funding to 20 out of 52 parents centres from Whangarei to Dunedin would stop next year unless the Government found some other source of finance.

Prime Minister John Key promised in his state-of-the-nation speech, A Fresh Start for New Zealand, last year that National would give the Youth Court powers to order parents of young offenders to attend parenting courses.

Legislation for this is now before Parliament.

West Auckland Parents Centre board member Hassanah Rudd said parents centres depended on adult education funding to pay childbirth educators for antenatal classes and tutors for postnatal Baby and You classes.

Most parents pay fees ranging from about $60 in areas where district health boards provide funding, and up to $250 in Auckland's eastern suburbs for a package including antenatal and postnatal classes and a year's subscription to the Parents Centre magazine and other services.

Mrs Rudd said the centres would do everything they could to avoid raising fees if the government subsidies were lost. "You can't make it ridiculously expensive because then you will cut out huge amounts of people that really need this information," she said.

"There was a couple in one class 18 months ago where the childbirth educator was talking about fetal movements, what to watch for.

"As she was talking the couple realised that their baby hadn't been moving around for a while. They went straight to the hospital and three hours later she had that baby by emergency Caesarean. If she hadn't been receiving that education at that time, that baby could have died."

Another agency, which runs courses across Auckland for parents struggling with stress and anger, Parent Trust, said the loss of adult education funding through schools would lop another 10 per cent off its budget, which is already down 12 per cent because of ASB Trust's funding freeze.

"These are parenting programmes with a difference because they help parents break harmful intergenerational cycles of parenting," said manager John Wenger.

Acting Education Minister Bill English said Budget decisions related to the overall funding framework, and the Tertiary Education Commission would allocate funds to individual course providers.

WHO GETS HIT

Top 10 West Auckland groups receiving adult education funding

* Glen Eden Community House: $10,000
* Massey Community House: $10,000
* West Auckland Women's: Centre $10,000
* Workers' Educational: Association $9000
* Western Districts Budgeting Services: $6030
* Parents Centre West Auckland: $6000
* Ranui Community House: $6000
* Spark Studio (arts): $6000
* Avondale Community Centre: $5916
* Changeworks Trust (anti-violence): $5860