Huntley School has reduced its tuition fees to assist families struggling with loss of income. Photo / File
Huntley School has reduced its tuition fees to assist families struggling with loss of income. Photo / File
Marton's Huntley School is one of a number of elite New Zealand schools that have claimed millions through the Government's wage subsidy scheme.
However, while some of the schools are still collecting full tuition fees that is not the case at Huntley where the wage subsidy is being applied to all 42 staff, headmaster Sam Edwards said. The school has claimed $249,969 in subsidies.
"We are not receiving any boarding fees as all the boarders went home when it was announced that schools would close for the level 4 lockdown," Edwards said.
"We have reduced our tuition fees because a number of our families are struggling with a loss of income due to having to close their small businesses and some farming families were already affected by drought before the lockdown."
Edwards said the school also lost considerable revenue during the lockdown period when it would normally hire out facilities for regular annual events.
"A number of international students who were scheduled to start in term two didn't arrive due to the lockdown."
Under level 3, the school has 20 day students attending and working in two separate bubbles.
Despite the setbacks, Edwards said he is optimistic about the school's ability to bounce back.
"Since 1896 Huntley School has overcome adversity like the polio epidemic and two world wars," he said.
"This pandemic will not be any different and we will get through by supporting our students and school community."
Schools still collecting full tuition fees said they were suffering as badly as any exposed business during the Covid-19 pandemic because they had lost income from international students and boarding fees.
They still expected to make at least a 30 per cent loss, the threshold required to make the subsidy.
However, at least one of the schools is now paying the money back after it overestimated the losses it would make.
State schools are not eligible for the subsidy because the Government has guaranteed the wages of their staff. Private schools, on the other hand, are run as businesses and could apply if they expected a financial hit.
A Ministry of Social Development database shows 20 private schools have claimed a total of $11.7m in wage subsidies so far.
Most of them claimed the subsidy to cover the wages of non-teaching staff such as those in boarding houses or swimming schools. Others made much larger applications which included wages for teaching staff.
Private schools with a large number of international students or boarders had suffered particularly badly during the Covid-19 outbreak because the students had returned home and boarding schools had been forced to close.
The Government has paid out more than $10 billion through the wage subsidy scheme.
