Hon Hekia Parata
Minister of Education

15 May 2014

$85.3m increase in schools’ operational funding

Schools’ operational grants will increase by 2 per cent at a cost of $85.3 million over the next four years, Education Minister Hekia Parata says.

“This new funding will bring the total amount spent on school operational grants to $1.23 billion during 2014/15,” she says. “These increases will help schools cover increases in operating costs, including the costs of non-teaching staff.

“There is a considerable investment in new education initiatives in this Budget, including $359 million of operating funding over the next four years for the Investing in Educational Success programme that the Prime Minister announced earlier this year. But we also recognise that schools face budget pressures in their everyday operations.

“The increase, from the start of the 2015 school year, will take financial pressure off schools and help them continue to focus on the thing that is most important to all of us – raising student achievement,” Ms Parata says.

Operational grants are about 20 per cent of total government funding to state and state-integrated schools. The grants are paid in cash to boards of trustees, which decide how they are spent. Typically, the funding is spent on support staff, teaching materials and utilities.

“The continual increase in schools’ operational grants over our six Budgets has been in line with inflation, and reflects the Government’s commitment to supporting schools to be successful,” Ms Parata says.

Previous increases to schools’ operational grants

ENDS

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