The government's Budget rings a multi-million-dollar death-knell for the much-maligned school decile system.
The Budget increased school operations grants, tertiary education subsidies and early learning centre subsidies by 2.75 percent. Photo: 123rf
It provides more than $80 million-a-year to replace deciles with a new equity index as the means of allocating extra funding to schools with students from disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
Most of the money, $75m per year, will go directly to schools, adding to the $150m they already receive via the decile-based system.
The Budget has increased school operations grants, tertiary education subsidies and early learning centre subsidies by 2.75 percent.
In total, it committed more than $16 billion to school and early education in the next financial year, a milestone that had been forecast for the current financial year, but which actual spending fell just short of. A further $4b was allocated to tertiary education.
The Budget provided $266m over four years to help give early childhood teachers pay parity with school teachers.
In tertiary education there was $56m a year to pay for an expected increase in enrolments in the next two years though $40m of that spending was redirected from the unspent money this financial year.
The Budget also committed $40m over two years to modernise polytechnic facilities.
Spending on school transport increased $21m a year, and funding for the intensive wrap-around service for children with high needs increased by more than $4m a year.
However, falling primary and secondary school rolls would save the government $47m in the next financial year.
Increased spending on school buildings, a feature of previous Budgets, continued with about $30m over four years for the ongoing rebuild of Christchurch schools, $15m to purchase new school sites, about $20m for new classrooms for Māori-medium schools, and $30m for school growth.
Extra spending to help schools cope with the pandemic, including funding for internet connections for homes, learning packs for students, and extra staffing was not continued.