Consultation on Bulk funding bill more than National ever offered

Immediate Release 19 June 2000

The Alliance has defended the Education Amendment Bill saying that there was more genuine consultation on the bill than National ever undertook while it was in government and that this government is fulfilling another election promise.

"It was an open democratic process. The select committee heard submissions from around the country. We even extended the submission period by three weeks when we were told schools didn't have enough time to get submissions through," Select Committee Chair and Alliance Education spokesperson Dr. Liz Gordon said.

"This is in stark contrast to the surprise attack on Kindergartens by the National Government when they removed them from the state sector act under urgency in a few days without any chance for submissions.

"The committee worked well and made some significant changes in some areas of the bill, but of course the Alliance, Labour government was elected on a promise to remove bulkfunding.

"Dr Smith needs to remember that only 30% of schools went into bulk funding and most of them went into it to get extra money. That extra money will be redistributed to all schools on a needs basis and we expect 80% of schools will be better off," Dr. Liz Gordon said.

ENDS

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