Catholics: Fees help colleges survive

Integrated schools say they must battle as hard as their state counterparts to make ends meet.

A Herald survey published yesterday revealed that parents of children at integrated secondary schools are paying hundreds of dollars more in contributions than those at state schools.

But in the case of Catholic schools, a proportion of the money goes straight to the local diocese for buildings, which are not Government-funded.

The Catholic Education Office chief executive, Brother Pat Lynch, said per-pupil operation funding was the same as at state schools, "so we're all in the same boat".

Other integrated schools must also find property funding.

Integrated schools are former private schools which maintain a "special character" based on a particular religion or philosophy.

Most are Catholic schools but others focus on educational philosophies such as Montessori or Rudolf Steiner. NZ has about 70 integrated secondary schools.

The most expensive of those in the Herald survey, Baradene College in Remuera, asks parents to contribute more than $2200 a year.

Carol Coddington, head of St Dominic's in Henderson and chairwoman of the national association of Catholic secondary schools, said it had become a "sad fact of life" that schools needed voluntary contributions from parents.

"The funding we are given is simply not sufficient to cover what we do," she said.

St Dominic's asked parents for $260 a year, but with the fees for land and buildings that figure rose to $768.

Tom Gerrard, principal of Rosmini College in Takapuna and the longest-serving head of an integrated school, said parents often had difficulty in understanding what they were paying for as the money was broken down differently from school to school.

"There are all sorts of hidden charges," Mr Gerrard said.

As well as a voluntary donation to help students, there was a donation to the local Catholic diocese and possibly a further donation for buildings, above the compulsory property charge.

"We [Rosmini] are building a $3 million technology block at the moment and we need to find that money ourselves," said Mr Gerrard.

However, Brother Lynch said all the money was needed to preserve the special character of a school that a parent had chosen.

"If a school was not able to deliver that it would have no reason to exist.

"If [parents] want that sort of education they have to pay for it. That's the reality now."

* The money integrated schools ask for is broken down into several components. Of schools the Herald listed yesterday, some did not include certain fees while others included a compulsory attendance charge.

The figure of $571 for contributions to Baradene College in yesterday's table was the amount requested per term.