Fear of school closures in wake of cuts

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Schools will be overwhelmed by a baby boom unless the Government reverses teacher funding cuts outlined in the Budget, unions say.

Teacher unions yesterday reacted with anger to Thursday's Budget, singling out for particular criticism the $50 million per year of cuts to the teacher staffing spend.

Primary teachers' union, the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI), said the cuts raised the spectre of school closures.

"There is a number of different ways it [cuts] can be done," NZEI national secretary Paul Goulter said.

"One way would be at [salary] bargaining. Attempting to claw stuff back that obviously would encounter some problems. Another way would be to adjust the [teacher-student] ratios and another way would be to start closing schools again."

Ministry of Education data released this week showed the total school roll was expected to start growing beyond its current 750,000 students in 2012.

"This is followed by projected roll increases over the next decade, with almost 800,000 students expected in the early 2020s. This is around 7000 students higher than previously projected," the ministry said.

The projected increase in enrolments was largely due to the high number of births in 2007 and 2008, the report said.

Education Minister Anne Tolley said the Government considered reversing the one-to-15 teacher-to-student ratio for new entrant classes, which was implemented in February.

"Instead, the Government has decided that it will review the complexity of formula-driven funding entitlements and funding streams," Tolley said.

The Government would respond to roll growth where there was population growth by funding the necessary teachers, she said.

However, Post-Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) president Kate Gainsford said the cuts could not be made without increasing student-to-teacher ratios.

"Anne Tolley will find this a very hard sell because teachers, principals and boards will all tell her there is no fat to be trimmed in terms of staffing and that class sizes in schools are already too big," Gainsford said.

The $50m cuts were equivalent to 700 teachers, she said.

Goulter said the cuts had come as a "bolt out of the blue" when Tolley briefed the unions after the Budget on Thursday.

"Certainly, it is starting to sink in through the sector today [Friday] and it is making people very nervous," he said.

Teachers were anxious the Government might introduce performance-based pay, Goulter said.

Tolley has previously praised work by Auckland University academic John Hattie that suggested teacher pay should be more closely linked to performance.

Hattie's work would have a "profound influence" on the future of New Zealand schooling, she said.

"We think that it [performance-based pay] certainly is a background issue," Goulter said.

"It would be fair to say that our members are very alive to that possibility and you don't have to talk to too many teachers to get a really strong read on how much they would resist that."

- © Fairfax NZ News