Figure 1.--.
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Figure 1.--. |
Compulsory schooling in New Zealand is funded by the government to varying degrees, depending on the type of school. However, communities often contribute to
the expenses of their local schools. Private schools receive a government subsidy and charge fees to students. Integrated schools receive full government funding for
staffing, operations and maintenance but charge attendance dues to enable development of school property. Some schools also develop sponsorship arrangements
with local businesses to provide extra funding. Schools receive resources from the Ministry in four distinct streams:
1) the operations grant
2) staffing
3) school property
4) school transport assistance.
The levels of resourcing are set by the government to ensure that they are adequate for the delivery of the New Zealand Curriculum to all students entitled to attend
school. Many boards of trustees choose to supplement this resourcing to provide extra activities and opportunities, using locally raised funds. Each state school is given a grant for operating costs and the board of trustees is responsible for making sure the school is properly maintained. The funding of capital works (building projects) is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education. All state schools are staffed and funded to deliver quality programmes to all their students. Supplementary funding is available on application for delivery of programmes to students with special needs, for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programmes and for senior programmes in secondary schools.
Funding may also include targeted allocations to address barriers to learning associated with socio-economic status. This is called Targeted Funding for Educational
Achievement (TFEA). To decide how much extra funding to give to each school, the Ministry of Education gives each school a rating based on data from the Census
and from the school's own roll. Schools do not have to apply for TFEA funding. It is paid to them automatically.
To support Maori language learning additional funding is also available to schools which run Maori immersion or Maori language programmes. The level of funding
depends on the level of immersion of the programme.
At present, all boards administer the operational grants while in most cases teachers' salary funding is managed centrally and provided through the Ministry of
Education. With increasing self-management by schools, boards have the opportunity to administer their own funding for staffing. Boards which opt to follow this
system pay salaries from a pool of funding allocated to the school according to a set formula. Centrally allocated staffing remains for those schools whose boards
prefer such a system. The New Zealand education budget exceeds $7 billion in 1998/99.
