Looking for Details on $175 Million Lost From Education

New Zealand First's Education Spokesperson Tracey Martin wants to know the details of the government’s underspending on education.

“The government has explained that the underspend includes $27 million on salaries, but fails to point to anything else. We understand time variances, but $205 million is a huge figure.

“Where’s the other $178 million? We are concerned that this mimics the $32 million that was swept into a corner of the government’s coffers for two years when it should have gone to schools for spending on special needs children. In that case, schools had to make up the shortfall, no doubt cutting programmes in other areas.

“Of course it might be connected to changes in decile ratings. Schools being placed on higher decile ratings have been appealing as they face a huge loss of funding. Is this part of the underspend?

"To merrily come out and state there has been a massive underspend is not good enough, we want facts.

“We want assurances on behalf of schools, staff and parents that the state education system which so many rely on is not being short changed by National as it panics about its surplus promise.”

ENDS

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