Students will suffer and teachers will head overseas if plans to cut teaching numbers go ahead.
That's the warning from upset Bay intermediate teachers as schools throughout the country fume at proposed funding cuts to specialist subjects and proposed new class ratios.
Subjects under threat include art, music, ICT, textiles, hard and soft materials, dance, drama and electronics.
The issue was reported in last Saturday's Bay of Plenty Times Weekend but has continued to boil this week.
Prime Minister John Key said there would be a minimal impact for 90 per cent of schools and gave an assurance the Government would iron out problems with a change to class size ratios.
But he was unsure how that would work and stood by the decision to change the ratios overall, saying the money saved would go into improving the quality of teaching.
Front-line teachers are now speaking out.
Otumoetai Intermediate art teacher Karen Patten was shocked.
"I feel sad when I look at the students' work because I know the effect it will have on these kids. They aren't going to have the same opportunities any more and we need to preserve what's here."
She has taught at Otumoetai Intermediate for 10 years, and feared her job would be axed.
"This was what it was like right at the beginning of my career when teachers [covered a number of subjects]. It's almost like we're going backward."
Mrs Patten said classroom teachers already found it difficult to juggle the demands of literacy, numeracy and other classroom demands, and many wouldn't have enough time to sufficiently teach extra subjects such as art or technology. She said if teachers lost their jobs, students would suffer the consequences.
The intermediate school's dance and drama teacher, Anna Robinson, feared for her job. She said the move would force teachers such as herself to look overseas for suitable jobs.
"I know people who are looking online because they won't be able to work in any other school in New Zealand. Even though I've got a bachelor in teaching and two drama diplomas, I don't know where I'm going to end up."
"Some kids come in saying they're not good at anything and they never do well but in this classroom they have the opportunity to do great. They don't have to find success in academic areas, they have options in other areas and this is one of them."
At Otumoetai Intermediate, staff numbers will drop when the full effect of the funding cuts come into operation in September.
Principal Henk Popping said frontline staff numbers would drop 34 to 26 next year.
He said the school anticipated a small adjustment in staffing but "not in our wildest dreams" did he think the staffing allocation, which enabled schools to provide specialist programmes, would have been removed.
"Schools will be faced with a difficult choice.
"Either no longer have all these programmes which are a highlight for many of our students and a pathway to future careers, or retain some of these with classes increasing up toward 40 students," he said.