KEY POINTS:
A state primary school in a wealthy Auckland suburb is asking parents to pay $950 a year in fees and donations.
Yet other schools across the upper North Island do not ask for donations at all, a Weekend Herald survey of primary and intermediate schools has found.
The 243 schools who replied by deadline reveal a wide range of figures.
Decile-10 school Parnell District Primary did not respond but a break-down of fees was anonymously passed to the Herald.
The school is this year asking parents for a $460 school donation plus an activities fee.
A parent of an intermediate-aged student is charged $250 for information technology, $90 for activities, $50 for technology, $50 for swimming, $30 for sports and arts and $20 for photocopying.
Principal Gary Cain says it is "absolutely critical" for decile-10 schools to receive extra payments and donations from parents.
Parents have high expectations of the school and many have moved through from local kindergartens that charge about $800.
While 80 per cent of parents usually pay the donation and activities levy, Mr Cain says the school invites parents to help families who are unable to afford it by anonymously donating to a hardship fund.
Whitehall, a decile-10 full-primary school in Cambridge, does not charge donations.
Principal Justin Bertrand says this is because the school called upon parents to donate both their time and money to additional school activities as they arose. "As with all decile-10 schools the funding we get is not much but we manage to scrape by."
Meadowbank Primary in Auckland City asks for $456 for a child each year.
Principal Peter Ayson says almost all parents pay the donation as well as the varying activity fees, and he has not had a parent complain about it in 10 years.
The donation helps the school to pay for teacher aids and specialist physical education, music and information technology teachers and to afford a reading recovery teacher who is only 20 per cent funded by the Ministry of Education, Mr Ayson says.
The principal of Manurewa Intermediate, Iain Taylor, says this is the first year the decile-one school has not asked for a donation.
Last year, just 15 per cent of parents paid the $30 donation and the school charged additional costs for trips, subject fees and technology. Over the year the school received no more than $4000.
This year, Mr Taylor has asked parents for one payment of $100 to cover all extra costs, and in three weeks has collected $8000.
Because it is a decile-one school, Manurewa Intermediate is allocated $450,000 in targeted funding for educational achievement which will be directed towards extra staffing and helping underachieving pupils.
The money collected from the levy will go towards the extra activities the school offers its students parents are given a breakdown of the funds so they understand exactly how their children will benefit.
Mr Taylor says schools are not funded appropriately "full-stop".
Decile-two Ilminster Intermediate in Gisborne has not asked for donations or activity fees for 15 years.
Principal Peter Ferris says schools have got "carried away" with charging parents. "I believe it is more a case of schools wanting all the bells and whistles to compete against neighbouring schools."
Parents need to make a stand against being chased for more money, he says, and it is immoral for students to miss out on anything because their parents have not paid.
