Equity Index welcome but needs greater funding

24 September 2019

NZEI Te Riu Roa has welcomed the Minister of Education's announcement of an Equity Index to replace school decile funding, and agrees with his statement that it "should be introduced with additional funding to help ensure success" for students facing disadvantage.

NZEI Te Riu Roa President Lynda Stuart said additional funding was critical to ensure the index achieved its purpose of increasing student success.

"The need for extra support for our students is enormous. With current equity, or decile, funding making up just 2.9% of school resourcing, there's a clear need for greater resources to address the issues of inequity," she said.

The change to an Equity Index is technical and complex and the sector will need to have confidence in how the change will work and how the transition is managed. Ms Stuart said consultation with the sector would need to be thorough and allow the time needed to get it right.

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