Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
7 JULY 2016

Salisbury Roll Decline A Consequence Of Policy

Minister of Education Hekia Parata continues to claim Salisbury boarding school for girls, in Nelson, is not value for money, says New Zealand First.

“The very reason there are only nine girls at the school is because of the ministry’s policy,” says Spokesperson for Education Tracey Martin.

“To now claim that this has occurred naturally is false.

“The Minister deliberately capped the roll taking the school from 80 students in 2012 down to a maximum of 20 students in 2016 and the ability of parents to directly apply to Salisbury School was removed.

“The Minister says it costs $1,934,181 to fund Salisbury School each year. She has used this figure and the roll to try and convince the public that the Intensive Wrap Around Service is more cost effective at an average of $27,000 per student.

“If the Ministry’s roll constraints were not in place and Salisbury was allowed to take in up to 80 students, the cost would fall to about $24,000 a year for each student.

“How dare this government and this Minister wave the banner of parental choice while they use taxpayers’ dollars to fund Charter Schools, increase funding to private schools and bring unqualified and unregistered teachers into our classrooms.

“The government is slamming the ‘parental choice’ door shut for families that need a single sex special needs residential school for their extremely vulnerable young daughters.”

ENDS

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