24 November 2004

Rural areas get more teachers, education funding

New funding of $19.7 million over four years has been allocated to give area schools more teachers, extra salary funding to help recruit and retain staff, and increased operational funding from next year, Education Minister Trevor Mallard announced today.

“This means area schools which are mainly in rural communities will receive approximately 56 extra full-time teacher equivalents (FTTEs) over and above those required for roll growth. This will help raise education standards as teachers’ workloads are reduced, giving them more time to concentrate on teaching," Trevor Mallard said.

"In addition to this, more than 80 schools will receive extra operations funding. Schools will also receive extra salary funding to help address the problems many area schools have in attracting staff to deputy principal, assistant principal and head of department positions."

The extra teachers are over and above the extra teachers schools are entitled to in order to meet roll increases, and are part of the government’s continuing commitment to implementing the recommendations of the School Staffing Review Group.

Overall, the extra staffing announced today will mean an extra 2,620 teachers will have been added in all schools from the beginning of 2005 at an estimated total ongoing annual cost of $165 million.

“In addition to these staffing improvements, we are also increasing the operational funding for these schools which will align area schools’ resourcing more closely with what would be available if a school was divided into a primary and secondary school, after taking into account the single school site of area schools.”

About 87 schools serving rural and urban communities will benefit from the increased funding. Schools benefiting include 25 Maori immersion and bilingual schools and a further 10 schools with Maori immersion and bilingual classes.

ENDS

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