By REBECCA WALSH education reporter
Schools have received a $60 million windfall from the Government to ensure that most are left better off by the abolition of bulk-funding.
Three out of every four schools will gain money next year, when all teachers are paid directly from Wellington and schools no longer receive "bulk-funding" grants to pay staff as they choose.
However, almost a quarter of the country's 2638 schools will lose money - including two-thirds of the 837 schools that are now bulk-funded.
Education Minister Trevor Mallard said bulk-funding was the most divisive recent issue in schools.
Advocates of the system argued that it allowed schools more flexibility but opponents said it encouraged schools to employ inexperienced teachers.
Schools in Northland, the East Coast and poorer parts of Auckland and Christchurch will gain the most from yesterday's announcement, which is based on a school's roll and a decile rating measuring socio-economic status from one (the poorest) to 10 (the richest).
The biggest winner is centrally resourced Otahuhu College, a decile-one school, which will get an extra $516,383 next year.
The biggest loser is Rosehill College, a bulk-funded school in Papakura. The decile-seven school will lose $332,182.
Mr Mallard said the $60 million would come from $45 million earmarked for bulk-funding by the previous Government but never spent, and a $15 million increase in the schools operations grant.
At the same time, the Government had removed some of the constraints on centrally resourced schools to allow them some of the flexibility of bulk-funding. For example, it had relaxed the rules for employing additional teachers from operations funds.
The secretary of the Association of Bulk Funded Schools, Jill Pritchard, said that while there were "some really good things" in the formula, such as the staffing flexibility, most bulk-funded schools would be worse off.
National education spokesman Nick Smith described the formula as a huge step backwards for education which took control away from principals and parents and "gave it back to Wellington bureaucrats."
But NZ Educational Institute president Darrell Ward and his Post Primary Teachers Association counterpart, Graeme Macann, said the funding would create a more equitable system.
They would have preferred more money to be targeted for centralised staffing as schools were struggling with greater workloads and too few teachers.
Secondary Schools Principals Association president Tom Robson said that while it was good to see more money spread across all schools, there were some "serious losers" and staff cuts were likely.
Secondary School Trustees Association president Owen Edgerton was disappointed that boards would not be able to reward high-performing teachers.
Schools boosted by extra $60m
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.