Te Tai Tokerau Principals Cannot Wait For Their Schools To Be Funded At The Rate Of $60000 Per Pupil
Te Tai Tokerau Principals Association calls upon the government to ensure all state schools are funded at the same level as Charter schools, $60000 per child per yea
NZEI, having had to request the details from the Ministry of Education using the Official Information Act, shows the failed National and ACT experiment with charter schools that ran from 2014 to 2018 cost up to $48,421 per student annually, more than six times the average funding, spent on students in state schools.
The NZEI Press release goes on to say that “When adjusted for inflation. That is more than $60,000 per student in today’s money. In comparison today, public schools are funded at around $9,000 per student. The total cost of the failed political experiment to the taxpayer was $125.000.000.00.”
Pat Newman President of Te Tai Tokerau Principals says all of the schools in Te Tai Tokerau, cannot wait to be funded at the same rate. We would be able to cover all the needs of our children, staff our schools for what we have been screaming out for, for years, and have caviar and whitebait daily for our school lunches till the kids got sick of that menu, and change it for Bluff Oysters and crayfish!”
He continued, “All jokes aside, the previous National Act Government were adamant that funding for their politically driven failed Charter School experiment was no greater than an equivalent State School.
Clearly, from their own figures just obtained, we now know this was blatantly incorrect…on purpose or by omission, we do not know.
Many of us strongly support the rights of whanau to choose their child’s schooling, but only if the playing fields, the funding per pupil, are this same for all.
David Seymour is hell bent on instigating the failed experiment yet again, and in fact expanding upon it. However this time he must be open, honest and transparent about the true costs, the expectations, the results, instead of hiding behind his power as a Minister…and more importantly, fund all of schools at the Charter school rate of $60000 per child per annum… wow a whopping $18, 600,000.00 per annum for my own school!”..