Hon Bill English National
Party Education Spokesman

19 May 2005

Education bureaucracy big Budget winner

National's Education spokesman, Bill English, says education bureaucracy is the big winner in this year's Budget, with the Ministry of Education getting a bigger funding increase than the country's 2,700 schools.

"Parents who face higher and higher demands for school fees, and principals bogged down with fundraising and forms for additional funding, will be very disappointed.

"In what might be termed a 'digital gesture' to schools and parents, Trevor Mallard announced a small increase of $19.5 million per year for all schools across.

"The Ministry, on the other hand, will get an increase of $24.3 million per year. Adding insult to injury, the Education Review Office has been given an additional $800,000 to review how schools spend their operational grants.

"So the bureaucrats get even fatter while schools run deficits as they wrestle with the costs of NCEA and support staff pay deals put together by the Minister and his union mates.

"This Budget was a missed opportunity to reprioritise spending and put the focus back onto learning," says Mr English

Ends

Attached: Increases in Ministry of Education Departmental Spending 2004/2005 - 2005/2006

Increases in Ministry of Education Departmental Spending 2004/2005 – 2005/2006

Administration of education regulations: Up $1.343m
Administration of education sector resourcing: Up $4.262m
Ministerial Services: Up $0.041m
Policy Advice: Up $2.64m
Provision of Information: Up $15.803m
Purchasing of services on behalf of the crown: Up $0.218m

Total increase: $24.307m

© Scoop Media