Twenty-seven schools needed Ministry of Education financial guarantees, four times more than the previous year. Photo / RNZ
By John Gerritsen of RNZ
Auditors have called out schools for spending their money on boat cruises, food for local families and travel for principals – and in some cases their partners.
The Auditor-General’s annual report on schools’ 2024 accounts said more schools than the previous year were struggling financially or spent money inappropriately, and many still failed to plan ahead for building maintenance.
The report said 27 schools needed Ministry of Education guarantees for their finances – about four times as many as the previous year.
It said schools needed guidance on “sensitive expenditure” and on planning maintenance for their buildings.
The report said one school board provided so little financial information auditors could not give an opinion on their accounts.
That was the combined board of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Manurewa and Te Wharekura Manurewa and applied to their 2021, 2022 and 2023 audits.
“The school board did not retain accounting records and relevant supporting documents to underpin the financial statements,” the report said.
“We also could not obtain evidence that controls over the school’s expenditure and payroll were in place and operating effectively during the years that we were auditing.”
It said auditors highlighted issues in 64 audit reports and at 21 schools this related to use of schools’ $6000-a-year fund for professional coaching and support for principals.
“We drew attention to some spending on personal travel for the principal and, in some instances, companions because there was no clear business purpose for it,” the report said.
“In some instances, there was a lack of documentation or receipts to support the business purpose of the principal’s travel. For most of these, there was a clear business rationale for the travel, but there was additional travel and spending (such as on tourist activities) that appeared to be personal in nature.
“Any personal travel incorporated into business travel should be at no additional cost to the school.”
Some of the larger sums involved included:
Maraenui Bilingual School in Napier paid $9086 for the now-former principal to attend a relative’s tangi and $7058 for that principal and a family member to travel to Rarotonga but did not provide enough evidence that the spending had a clear business purpose linked to student outcomes.
The report said the Ministry of Education had developed new guidance and criteria for spending on professional coaching and wellbeing support which would be published early next year.
Other sensitive spending issues included:
The report said auditors noted some instances where schools broke the law.
It said two schools met the costs of an international student through a scholarship, even though legislation required schools charge fees that at least covered the costs of tuition and capital facilities.
Eight schools borrowed more money than they were allowed to and 10 schools breached conflict of interest requirements by entering contracts with board members worth more than $25,000 without the Secretary for Education’s approval.
The report said 51 schools did not provide enough evidence about their plans for ongoing maintenance of their buildings.
The report said some schools did not keep adequate records of community-raised funds or sports fees.