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More than 500 principals sign open letter to Government
More than 500 principals sign open letter to
Government
28 May 2017
More
than 500 school principals from throughout New Zealand have
signed an open letter to the Government asking for
the funding needed to pay support staff like teacher aides
more.
The open letter was published in a national
newspaper today.
“This is an unprecedented show of
solidarity for the support staff who do such important work
for the children of New Zealand," said Lynda Stuart,
President of NZEI Te Riu Roa and on leave from her role as
principal of May Road school in Auckland.
“This
demonstrates the extent of principals' concern for the
teacher aides, librarians, administrators and others who are
the lifeblood of schools and yet remain some of the
lowest-paid people in New Zealand.
“We've signed this
letter because we are extremely concerned about the impact
that very low wages and low job security are having on our
essential support staff and the follow on effect this has on
our students.
“Support staff are in pay negotiations
with the Ministry now and we principals firmly back their
calls for a pay rise.
“But unless schools are funded to
cover any pay increase many of us will feel we have no
option other than to cut back on learning resources or cut
the hours of teacher aides to afford their higher rates of
pay.
"Children shouldn't lose time with teacher aides, or
lose other resources because the Government isn't funding
schools to cover the basics.
“Support staff are paid
out of school operations grants, which were frozen by the
Government last year. Principals were hoping for a big
funding jolt in last week's budget but the grant was only
increased by 1.3 percent leaving us with no additional
funding to meet extra staffing costs or any additional
needs.
“Analysis of the budget by Victoria University
and the NZ Institute of Economic Research shows that real,
per child funding for education is dropping by 1.6 percent
this year, and the Government is budgeting for a major
decrease over the next few years.
“We believe New
Zealand can afford to provide all our children with the best
education in the world. But this will not be possible unless
the Government funds education properly,” Ms Stuart
said.
The letter and names of principals who've signed it
can be found here
:
NZEI Te Riu Roa
New Zealand Educational Institute
NZEI Te Riu Roa members work in every community in New Zealand, leading and advocating for quality public education.
We are the 50,000 principals, teachers and support staff who work in primary, area and secondary schools as well as early childhood centres, special education and school advisory services. We come together as NZEI Te Riu Roa - New Zealand's largest education union, a Treaty based organisation and a powerful advocate for quality public education.
We have the most important job in New Zealand - educating for the future.
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