By REBECCA WALSH education reporter
Sue Munro is likely to be looking for a new job next year.
A geography and social studies teacher at Onehunga High School, she is one of five teachers at the school whose jobs are threatened by the abolition of bulk-funding. She is shocked and disappointed.
"I was told there was 99 per cent certainty there would be a job at the end of the year, because I was employed before the change of Government," said Ms Munro. "I now don't have a guarantee of a job for next year."
Onehunga High School is one of about a quarter of the country's 2638 schools - including two-thirds of bulk-funded schools - which will lose money under the Government's new funding formula. A decile three school, it will lose about $235,000.
At the same time, three-quarters of schools will benefit from a $60 millon windfall next year when all teachers' salaries are once again paid directly from Wellington, rather than some schools receiving bulk-funding to pay staff as they choose.
Onehunga High principal Chris Saunders said bulk-funding had enabled the school to employ more teachers, cut class sizes, run programmes in English as a second language and offer classes for students with severe learning needs.
Those would now have to be reviewed and modified. "They would be less effective," said Mr Saunders.
Although no decisions had been made, the cut was also likely to affect the school's ability to offer some courses at the senior level that had smaller class sizes, such as music and foreign languages.
Ms Munro, who left a permanent teaching job at a more affluent school to take up a one-year relieving contract at Onehunga where she thought her skills could be better used, works in mainstream classes and with students who need extra learning support. The cut in operations funding could see the end of those classes.
Meanwhile, the latest funding announcement has sparked a cry from one Auckland principal that a "new education underdog" is being created.
Pt Chevalier Primary principal John Fleming said: "The formula appears to inflict a powerful hit at middle socio-economic New Zealand communities with young families."
The funding is based on a school's roll and a decile rating measuring economic status from one (the poorest) to 10 (the richest).
Mr Fleming said Pt Chevalier School was a decile six school and "with the exception of a few homes" was not a wealthy community.
If it was a decile one school it would have received $385,000 more in operations funding next year, he said. This could have paid nine more teachers, lowering the ratio of students to a teacher to 18.
Teachers face job losses
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