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More than a dozen schools yesterday backed the North Shore principals' boycott of the Schools Plus scheme despite Education Minister Chris Carter saying the group will end up having to implement it anyway.
Schools Plus aims to keep New Zealanders in education or training until age 18.
Northcote College head Vicki Barrie said she had received 15 responses after the North Shore Principals Association sent an open letter to Mr Carter withdrawing support for the plan until their worries about funding are recognised.
Ms Barrie said the responses came from schools as far apart as Whangarei and Dunedin.
She said one read: "I can't remember a more difficult financial situation for our schools than this current year."
One of the 15 schools is Auckland Grammar, where headmaster John Morris said: "The board has still got to talk about the issue but my own personal view is that there's no way we could afford to do it without money coming from the Government."
Mr Carter said schools were "very generously" funded and Government spending stood up well compared with other like countries.
"Some schools are being quite disingenuous in my view about how much they claim the community is having to raise," he said from an education ministers conference in Peru.
Mr Carter said School Plus currently cost the schools nothing as the Government was still consulting on the policy, and he was disappointed they did not wish to take part.
The Government had said any extra costs to schools would be covered.
The minister said he did not believe the boycott would undermine the policy, as there were many other schools taking part.
Schools would have to implement the policy once it came into force.
"Schools are legally required to fulfil the national education guidelines, but they don't have to participate in the consultation process."
Ms Barrie said the schools were worried about having to implement it "whether or not it is sufficiently funded".
In the letter, the principals of 15 North Shore and Rodney District schools detailed 21 Government innovations they claimed were not fully funded and had increased pressure on already-stretched finances.
A two-month public consultation phase on Schools Plus ended last month and an independent researcher is analysing 500 written submissions and additional feedback received by the Ministry of Education.
Details of how Schools Plus will work - including how it will be funded - are not expected to be revealed until the report is completed.
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NZPA
