Boost for young learners welcomed

The region's youngest learners will have more chances to succeed thanks to an injection of an extra $900 million into the education sector.

The news was being welcomed by local education professionals but some believed the funds were targeting a small percentage of young learners and were being spent on the wrong things.

Local early childhood education leaders said the Government's $172 million would boost the industry by trying to get more children into early education before they attended school and investing $12 million into poorly performing early childhood education centres. This money would bring the total amount invested into the early childhood sector in the next 12 months to $1.5 billion.

Primary principals spoken to were pleased schooling was given a $215 million boost in operating funding, which would be spent on addressing problem behaviour in classrooms, investing in a quality teaching programme and funding to support and retain teachers in Maori immersion education. The extra funding, announced in the Budget at Parliament yesterday, was part of a $9.7 billion investment in the education sector as a whole, for the 2013/2014 year.

Tauranga Region Kindergarten Association principal Peter Monteith told the Bay of Plenty Times any extra money was "a good thing" but the extra funding targeted a small group and would not benefit the wider sector. The Ministry of Education was pleased with early childhood education participation rates in the Western Bay and the $80.5 million boost to get 98 per cent of children participating in some form of education before they attended school would not be relevant here.

Early Childhood Council chief executive Peter Reynolds said there were some good things in the Budget but for some centres it was "just another slap in the face". He said most centres had lost at least tens of thousands of dollars of annual funding in the past three years and this Budget would add to those losses.

The results would be increased parent fees and more centre closures, he said.

Playcentre and Kidicorp, one of the region's major providers, did not respond to questions in time for this edition.

Merivale principal Jan Tinetti and Greenpark School's Graeme Lind said the move to have more children attend an early childhood education centre before school was vital because too many did not have the basics.

They agreed with all Budget allocations - a 2 per cent increase to school's operations grants, $63 million to Positive Behaviour For Learning, $37.5 million for Quality Teaching Programme and $2.4 million to better connect schools with parents.

Mrs Tinetti was pleased with the $12 million boost to support and retain teachers in Maori immersion education but was disappointed the poverty issue was not adequately addressed. "The Budget sounds like what I expected. There are always going to be gaps and you have to be realistic but it's good to see a bit of support," Mrs Tinetti said.