Education spending up but cuts for some

BY JO GILBERT, GLENN CONWAY AND NZPA

The Government will increase education spending by $1.4 billion over the next four years.

Education Minister Anne Tolley said the Government had made sure every dollar spent in the sector was used wisely.

"We have carefully considered every single dollar spent in education and examined how we can do better with existing resources.

"The Government wants every single young New Zealander to reach their potential and be given the opportunity to succeed, which is why education is a priority."

But New Zealand Kindergartens chief executive Clare Wells said around $12 million was being cut from kindergarten budgets annually.

``At the very time the Government is looking to improve outcomes for children, this is very short-sighted ... It's a huge hit and it's likely it'll be our children who suffer.''

Wells said the change left centres with two options: cutbacks that might compromise quality or to pass on costs somewhere else.

``Both those options are pretty unpalatable to kindergartens. We want to make sure kindergartens are affordable and accessible to parents and are still providing quality.''

Including registered primary teachers in ECE services' funding claims and expanding recognition of some overseas ECE qualifications were long-awaited, Early Childhood Council chief executive Peter Reynolds said.

``We have some centres that are on death's door as they can't recruit teachers and they have overseas-trained teachers that the NZQA (New Zealand Qualifications' Authority) won't rcognise.

``So it appears they have been listening to this message, which is a sign of hope.''

However, the fall-out from cutting the top teacher funding rate was a concern, he said.

``Centres with between 80 and 100 per cent of their teachers fully qualified are looking at losing at least 6 per cent of funding. That's upwards of $160,000 a year in funding. That's a huge impact.''

The Government's extra funding includes:

* $350 million for new schools, buildings and renovations

* $156 million increase in schools' operational funding

* $107 million increase for early childhood education

* $82 million to fix schools with leaky buildings

* $48 million increase for the Youth Guarantee scheme.

 The extra money will take education spending to $12 billion in 2010/11.

Mrs Tolley said one of the Government's biggest priorities was to make early childhood education accessible in communities where children were missing out.

Government spending in early childhood has increased from $428 million to $1.17 billion in the last five years.

"But we need to improve participation by families who need it most.

"Substantial changes to funding priorities have been made to redirect funding to areas of the greatest need, and manage the rapidly rising costs as more children spend more time in ECE (early childhood education)."

The 20 hours' early childhood subsidy will continue.

Early childhood centres will receive financial incentives to increase the number of staff who are registered teachers to 80 per cent. Incentives for centres with 80 to 100 per cent registration will be removed.

About $40 million will be used to get rid of unsightly buildings from vacant school sites.

"It will also reduce anti-social behaviour and vandalism in these areas and...will save the Government money through reduced maintenance and security costs."

Tertiary education

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce announced funding for an extra 1735 places at universities and 3173 places at polytechnics.

However these are largely being paid for by cuts in funding in other areas across the tertiary sector.

There was nothing in the Budget to help a tertiary sector already facing great challenges, Canterbury University vice-chancellor Dr Rod Carr said.

While the Government claimed there would be more places for students, Carr said the university still had the same challenges of trying to provide spaces for qualified students.

Apart from the ability to impose up to 4 percent rises on certain course fees, he could not identify any other chages that allowed universities to raise more money while offering more spaces.

"If education is the engine room for growth, we nede to invest more, not less.''

Other initiatives include:

* Students will pay a $40 annual fee to cover student loan administration costs

* Permanent residents and Australians cannot access a student loan for at least two years after they arrive

* Students have to pass 50 per cent of their full-time courses over two years to keep borrowing money.

Joyce said the changes would support students who made the most of their educational opportunities.

- © Fairfax NZ News