SEVEN hundred Whanganui teachers and support staff held an extraordinary meeting yesterday and expressed their anger at proposed changes to the way they are paid.
The historic meeting - hosted by New Zealand's two major education unions, New Zealand Education Institute and Post Primary Teachers' Association - was held at Whanganui racecourse's Eulogy Lounge to address the Better Funding Better Learning proposal.
It was one of 50 being held around the country involving 60,000 members, and covering educators from early childhood to secondary schools.
The unions are uniting to respond to the Government's bulk funding "global budget" proposal which they say would remove student-teacher ratios and the protection children and teachers have around class sizes.
The Government proposal, announced in June, has suggested giving schools a bulk allocation of funding and leaving it up to principals and headmasters to decide how much of it to set aside to pay staff.