Education budget leaves schools falling further behind

“The Government is ‘increasing’ schools’ operations grants by 2 percent, when inflation is currently forecast at 3.2 percent, as revealed in the Budget documentation. This funding has fallen behind inflation since 2021 - today’s announcement means there is now a 13% shortfall between the funding and inflation (up from 11.7% in the report PPTA Te Wehengarua released a week ago).”

Schools will continue having to do much more with even less. For the medium-sized secondary school, we estimate this shortfall will amount to $265,000 in 2027 ($330 per student), up from $230,000 (300 per student) in 2026.

“New educational initiatives need to be balanced with the ability for schools to pay their cleaners, caretakers and power bills. It puts incredible pressure on schools and communities when they must make up the shortfall.

“Schools are already having to depend increasingly on their local communities, via fundraising, for things such as kapa haka uniforms, travel to sports tournaments, and upgrades to their facilities. Today’s Budget means schools will be forced to do even more of this at a time when so many parents and whānau are doing it tough.”

Chris Abercrombie said one pleasing aspect of today’s Budget was the fact that no extra money had been allocated for charter schools. “Our local public schools provide excellent education to the vast majority of students in Aotearoa New Zealand and that’s where the money needs to go.”

Another positive part of the budget was the focus on funding for the development of vocational subjects and the increased trade academy places. However, it is puzzling that this is occurring without any significant teacher supply initiatives.

“This increase in trade training will only work if there are enough trained and registered teachers. It’s not possible or desirable in any shape or form for students to learn carpentry, mechanics, plumbing or electrical work by sitting in front of a screen – they absolutely need a trained and qualified teacher alongside them as they get their hands dirty.”

The inclusion of $20 million in the Budget for professional learning and development (PLD) for “all 32,000 secondary teachers - for the new curriculum and qualification system – may look good on paper, but in reality it amounts to about $600 per teacher.

“Once you factor in relief teacher costs so teachers can be freed up to do the PLD, this funding amounts to about a day of PLD for each teacher. Compare this with Budget 2024, which allocated $54m for 21,000 primary teachers in just one area - structured literacy – amounting to $2,571 per teacher.