24 May 2001

Increase in school funding

School operation funding will increase by a net 1.6 per cent, Education Minister Trevor Mallard said today.

He said the increase took into account savings made through cost efficiencies in the schools' insurance scheme.

"The Government has negotiated improvements to the scheme which provides an extremely comprehensive cover for the $8 currently charged per pupil each year," Trevor Mallard said.

"For the first time, schools in the central scheme will be covered for public liability, punitive and exemplary damages, trustees cover, employers liability, fidelity guarantee, and general legal expenses.

"We are taking advantage of efficiencies of scale available to the large education sector in order to get a top notch deal for schools. Government currently funds $12.66 for each pupil each year for insurance. Those savings can now be used to fund other positive initiatives in education.

"However, the regular operational funding adjustment that this Government has promised schools means that their operating funding will still increase by a net 1.6 per cent. The changes mean that the per pupil rates will increase to $489.83 for the youngest primary school children to $728.18 for senior secondary school children.

"Schools this year have received a significant increase in operational funding as a result of the ending of bulk funding. The new increases add to that and show that the Government is committed to regular increases in school funding," Trevor Mallard said.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>