Budget 2025: Increased funding for private schools to support ‘diversity, choice’

The Government is increasing funding for private schools in Budget 2025.

Associate Minister of Education and Act Party leader David Seymour said the spending boost would support diversity and choice in the country’s education system.

Budget 2025 puts $15.7 million over the next four years into boosting private school subsidies. Annual funding will rise from $41.6m to $46.2m.

It is the first increase in private school funding in 15 years, Seymour said, a period when the total independent school roll rose from about 27,600 in 2010 to 33,000 in 2024.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour has unveiled $15.7 million of new funding for private school subsidies. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Seymour said: “Often parents are making big sacrifices because they would prefer to send their child to an independent school”.

“They pay just as much tax as anyone else, yet the money that comes back for their kids’ education has effectively been getting smaller over the last 15 years.

“Independent schools are an important part of New Zealand’s education landscape, offering diversity and choice to parents. If parents want to send their children to independent schools, they should be able to,” he said.

“In 2010 the Government said that it was appropriate to fund the independent school sector at $41.6m per year to divide between schools based on their roll size. Fifteen years later, that amount is still the same. In 2010, there were around 27,600 students enrolled in independent schools. This grew to over 33,000 in 2024.”

Seymour said private schools’ costs had increased with inflation.

“This means schools receive funding that is worth significantly less than they need. For example, independent schools pay more in GST than they receive in funding,” he said.

Other changes include an automatic yearly reconsideration of private schools’ funding.

“Funding for independent school subsidies will automatically be considered annually to accommodate roll growth. This will mean independent school funding increases will work the same way as any other school,” he said.

“Independent schools are a crucial part of the education system.

“The sector has been seeking changes to ensure they can continue to support students. This funding addresses key issues they have raised and gives independent schools support that is long overdue.”

Learner support boost

Kids with additional learning needs will be supported by a $646m funding boost. This will include early intervention support.

There will also be extra maths help for students who need it, with $100m of new funding for early intervention and support.

Another $140m has been promised for services aimed at increasing school attendance.

The Office of Early Childhood Education has expressed its “deep disappointment” with Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ Budget, with the 0.5% cost adjustment for early childhood education funding far behind the inflation rate of 2.5%.

Lack of investment in the sector would lead to even higher fees for parents, lower quality of care for children and continued dissatisfaction from workers, the organisation’s chief adviser Dr Sarah Alexander said.

“No money has been allocated to help fix the most pressing problems facing the sector: low wages, high ratios of adults to children, and high fees for whānau.

“And yet, the Government has set aside a significant $3.856m in operational funding to establish and pay for a Ministerial Advisory Group to conduct an ECE funding review.”

This pool of money would be better spent putting together a committee that included experts, parents, and child rights advocates, to review the work of past funding reviews and current evidence, with any remaining funds put into the sector directly, Alexander said.

She is also concerned to see $12m over four years going into the development and piloting of a tool to assess children’s oral language development, and support 525 services to run an oral language programme.

“This is a band-aid on a systematic problem of overcrowding and not ensuring ECE-trained staff are working with children,” Alexander says.

The one bright spot in the Budget, from the OECE’s perspective was the $4m over four years going to Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust to help it meet costs of Information and Communication Technology to support improvements to its administration and human resourcing, she said.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.

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