It has been a tough few days in the education sector.
Not that there are any easy days as such but certainly since the Budget was delivered last Thursday, there has been considerable unrest, anger and uncertainty over the amount of funding and quality of education our public system willbe able to provide, given the constraints placed upon it by the Government.
Education Minister Hekia Parata has had her fair share of discomfort, facing up to angry principals among others, and has had to do what appears to be some pretty serious back-pedalling on the issue of classroom sizes in particular.
The move to rein in expenditure and direct funding to perceived high-return areas by increasing class sizes at some levels hit a nerve with most of the population, it seems. But now it appears a double standard has been uncovered.
In Budget 2012 the Education Ministry awarded Wanganui Collegiate School more than $3 million over two years, effectively subsidising private education using taxpayer money. These are funds that could have been used to boost the coffers of our public schools where principals are being asked to absorb the cost-cutting into their already stretched budgets.
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That Wanganui Collegiate has been allocated this money is no reflection on that institution, which has and continues to add much to the local community, as has been stated before. If the money is available and Collegiate meets the criteria, who could blame the board for taking it?
It matters not a jot that the school has sought to become state integrated; a decision on the success of the bid is due in August.
No, the problem with this scenario is the fact the Government has enabled this situation, whereby a private school - a business - has been given a taxpayer-funded handout while actively promoting its low class sizes against the struggling state sector institutions. It is something most will find untenable and will add to the sour taste over the whole education Budget fiasco.
