The Government has shelled out millions to fix up schools. So what are principals and teachers still moaning about? John Landrigan investigates why you'll still get begging notes with your child's school newsletters
Bought another raffle ticket? Fired up the barbie for the school sausage sizzle lately? Opened another letter from the board of trustees? Yes, your children's school is struggling for cash.
Some schools are feeling it so much that even a surprise present from the Ministry of Education is tainted.
The schools say the money comes with tags. They say the Government's priorities are wrong; and even though the money will come in handy, it's too little and way too late.
School property spending was descibed as critical in the Government's February economic stimulus package.
Recently, the Government propped up an educational fund, tediously called the ``proposed interim school property guide deficiencies programme'.
The fund is intended for building and upgrading non-teaching spaces - in plain English: libraries, administration, halls or similar non-classroom areas at schools whose rolls are increasing.
``School deficiencies' have been determined by comparing a school's actual square metre area with other convoluted calculations since 1999-2000.
The answer is expressed in points. The ministry says the system ensures transparency, national consistency and that funding is directed to schools with the largest ... yes, deficiencies.
Although principals of cash- strapped Auckland schools are thrilled with their allocation, they are not necessarily happy with the amount or the time it's taken to get them.
School funds, teachers say, should be based on need - not on a computer-generated lottery like the Duckworth-Lewis system used to decipher how many overs to play in a rain-affected cricket match.
Since their introduction a decade ago, the ``space deficiencies' in state schools apparently decreased from $400 million to $57.5 million.
This year's package for 74 schools around the country is set to reduce that calculation by another $30 million.
SOME 23 schools in the Auckland region received money, from $175,000 to Papakura Normal to a $3 million handout to Massey High School.
In our featured story, Tuakau College principal Chris Betty says few schools have as many deficiencies as his. Classrooms leak, and the roof and windowsills are rotting and filled with mould. Children learn in cold classrooms and there is little space for teachers and resources.
Although Mr Betty is ecstatic with the $1.58 million allocated, he wonders how his school has missed out for the last nine years and why it can't get sufficient money to upgrade the school to an acceptable standard.
``We're a Crown entity. There should be enough money to fix the problems when they arise. This building has been leaking for 20 years.'
Paul Daley, vice-president of the Secondary Principals' Association, knows Mr Betty is not alone in his concerns: ``His opinions are expressed by a large number of principals in the country.'
Waitakere Primary received $394,520. Principal Heather Atkinson says her school roll has increased by 180 pupils in the past three years.
``We had to turn our library and staffroom into classrooms. Then we fundraised and managed to pay for an administration block. You would have heard me screaming when we got the money. We'd been waiting five years,' she says.
Carolyn Marino, principal of Westmere Primary, says that despite receiving $370,252, children will still sit outside on cold concrete during assembly.
``We're the only inner-city school without a hall. The $370,000 is not enough for a hall. You have to have a place to meet so you feel you belong,' she says.
Westmere's roll has increased by 150 in the past two years. For 18 months, says Mrs Marino, the school has fought for extra classrooms. ``We've had huge roll growth and received $1.4 million last year for five new classrooms and to replace two leaky classrooms.'
``The [deficiencies] money allocated is not enough. You never know how much money or when you're going to get it. No one knows how to work out the formula.'
The school board has to decide whether to use the money for a hall (expected price tag: $1 million-plus) or put it into much-needed space for teachers and resources.
Mrs Marino says inner-city schools like Grey Lynn, Westmere, Ponsonby and Pt Chevalier have grown hugely but the ministry bases statistics on an out-of-date census.
THE VOICE OF primary and intermediate schools heads in the Greater Auckland region is the Auckland Primary Principals' Association. Spokesman Julien Le Sueur says there is a gap between the rate at which schools are funded and the realities of building costs.
``The biggest gripe from principals is the bureaucratic costs in getting plans approved ... and the adequacy of the funding.'
But he points out that ``wants' will always exceed what can be achieved.
``What the community wants, the ministry can't always provide. When it is formula- driven, there will always be people who lose out.'
Part of the problem, he says, is that the Government waits until the last minute to build new schools. Students are housed in less than desirable prefabricated classrooms - expensive, temporary solutions.
``The current network of schools doesn't have the capacity and can't absorb that kind of growth. The biggest challenge is to reduce the time for new schools in growth areas.'
A total of 163 schools with deficiencies amounting to $57.5 million were ranked below the funding threshold for the 2008-09 programme.
Ponsonby Primary principal Wim Boxen is confused by the formula but celebrating a $682,650 windfall. The school had begun extending its hall but was struggling to find the last $100,000.
``This will make it a great multipurpose facility. We'd been waiting for the money for a long time.'
Parnell principal Gary Cain says it makes sense to see the need first, then provide for it. His school's $200,000 will go towards a project that it had raised funds for, and already started.
``It would've been nice to know that it was coming. We'd been shelving money for the project, but did not have to in the end.'
EDUCATION MINISTER Anne Tolley says she has reduced bureaucracy so schools can get their property programmes under way quicker. The changes will relax some of the ministry's red tape.
``These more streamlined processes should enable schools to get their building work under way more quickly, giving the economy a boost in the process.'
Dr Liz Gordon chairs the Quality Public Education Coalition, a lobby group that counts John Minto and Sir Paul Reeves among its senior members, and champions better public education.
She likes the points system but wonders why it does not cover all educational funding. ``What we have here is a model of rational planning and resource commitment when it comes to facilities, but a complete absence of national commitment when it comes to helping schools and parents pay the cost of educating the children,' she says.
``We are all in favour of national planning, and we wonder why the ministry can do it so well when it comes to libraries and staffrooms, and yet politicians can completely ignore the lack of funding to run schools well, and the increasing cost our `free' system is imposing on parents.'
SHE POINTS OUT that private schools teach 3.5 per cent of New Zealand students yet were the biggest winners from National's 2009 Budget with a $35 million boost in funding on top of the $40 million from the previous Government. Additional funding for public schools (teaching 96.5 per cent of New Zealand children) amounted to $170 million.
``You might ask what is the point in shiny new libraries and staffrooms, if the schools cannot afford the books and teachers to fill them?'
Can we fix it? No, we can't be bothered
A converted toilet is the office for 12 teachers. Students freeze in unheated, leaking classrooms ... and money is short. Very short.
Tuakau College is a rural, decile four school. It's inside the proposed super-city boundary. In the past three years its roll has jumped by 200 to 735 students. It has more teachers, too.
In March, the school received $1,582,617 for non- teaching spaces such as staff rooms.
The problem is the money, although greatly appreciated, is not enough to fix ill-designed 1970s buildings that are - literally - falling apart.
The 12 science teachers are based in the converted boys' toilet. They might have been better off if it had been left as it was: now there are only two seats. Equipment is stored in a large industrial container outside.
Another teacher works from a cupboard. Ten to 15 teachers must stand in the staffroom because there's not enough space to sit. Students, teachers and parents trip over each other in an administrative block ``nightmare'.
The canteen is sub-standard, they need new changing rooms, toilets and classrooms have no heating. Children freeze in winter and cook in summer. Rain pours through light fittings, windows and ceilings.
Plywood patches are nailed to the ceiling to plug leaks. Big puddles form on the gym floor. It'll soon be too small for assemblies. Classrooms are issued with mops and buckets. Windowframes and roofs are rotting, peeling and mouldy.
Principal Chris Betty is tactfully matter-of-fact about the situation.
``We appreciate the money but schools like us are left behind. There is no equity.
``I taught here in 1984 and it was leaking then. It's going to cost millions to fix the leaks alone. The place is rotting. The ministry is happy to spend on new schools but not on schools that exist now.'
He says money received each year for property maintenance is absorbed in keeping the place together, not for making improvements.
``There are always unscripted bills. We pay for a plumber, but he cannot find the leak,' says Mr Betty, who has been known to wield a paintbrush in the weekends to spruce up the place himself.
Tuakau was ranked third ``most deficient' of all schools. It was number 58 of the 74 schools that received money.
``The funding has to be needs-based,' the principal sighs. ``The Government needs to look at what needs to be done and fix it.'
18 06 2009
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