Hon Bill English

National Education Spokesman

24 September 2004

Mallard's funding priorities in disarray

"Under Labour, bureaucratic growth at the Ministry of Education leaves the growth in schools' funding for dead, and parents have been left to meet the shortfall," says National's Education spokesman, Bill English.

"Since 1999, the per-pupil funding increase in spending on schools' operations has been 10%. But, by contrast, the Ministry's operating budget has increased by 44%, the NZQA's has almost tripled, and ERO's has increased by 26%.

"When parents are selling raffle tickets to employ teachers and to buy software and books, they have every right to challenge spending on questionable items such as:

o Administration of regulation - $87.3m o Policy advice - $47.1m (doesn't include ownership advice - further $20.2m) o Curriculum support - $86m o Professional development - $114m (excluding school support $17.2m) o Developing strategic coherence - $19.4m o Capacity development - $16.4m

"And if you want to know more about it, the education budget coughs up a further $54.4 million for 'information provision'," says Mr English.

"The funding system gets messier by the month. At last count there were 36 pools that schools could apply to for extra funding, tied up with 32 new education strategies.

"It's ironic that at a time when we have the biggest surplus in a lifetime, the state education sector is dependent on half a billion dollars raised by parents and communities.

"It's time money was redirected away from bureaucrats and PC initiatives and towards teachers and students," says Mr English.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

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>>