Head falsified roll to get more cash

A principal has pleaded guilty to inflating her school's roll to get $40,000 in extra Government money.

Genevieve Hinerau Doherty, 49, principal of Te Kura Toitu o Te Whaiti-nui-a-Toi, near Murupara, appeared in the Rotorua District Court, where Judge Paul Geoghegan remanded her on bail for sentencing on April 13.

Last March, she signed a return saying the roll included 24 adult students, but a later audit found no attendance records for them.

The fraud gained the school $21,600 extra in operating grants and $19,200 in additional funding. The staff entitlement was also increased by nearly one full-time teacher.