What this year’s Budget means for the education sector

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  • $1.2 billion in new infrastructure expenditure over next five years, including 300 new classrooms
  • $1.2 billion over four years to extend 20 hours free Early Childhood Education to two-year-olds from March next year
  • $521 million over four years to help tertiary institutions from next year
  • $322 million available to ECE services to lift the pay for teachers
  • $260 million increase to early learning subsidies over four years
  • $220 million to support it to integrate Te Pūkenga’s IT systems
  • $180.7 million to fund 16,000 more uni students in 2024
  • $147 million to improve access in schools
  • $40 million for Learning Support Co-ordination in kaupapa Māori and Māori schooling
  • $17.1 million to carry the Apprenticeship Boost initiative until the end of 2024

Young families are some of the big winners in Budget 2023: The biggest ticket items

* Calls to make education ‘more affordable’ for Pacific island students

* 300 more classrooms funded in pre-Budget announcement

“>this year’s Budget with an allocation of $1.2 billion enabling an extension of 20 hours free early childhood education to 2-year-olds from March next year.

That would mean an estimated saving of $133.20 a week in childcare costs.

Education Minister Jan Tinetti​​ said this would help ease cost of living pressures as childcare was “one of the biggest costs families faced”.

“This is a win-win for families with young children; it will reduce costs, remove barriers to early learning and allow parents to return to work or take on more hours if they can.”

READ MORE:
* Budget 2023: The biggest ticket items
* Calls to make education ‘more affordable’ for Pacific island students
* 300 more classrooms funded in pre-Budget announcement

Additional conditions to the subsidy will be introduced to ensure it is passed on to parents and would enhance fee transparency.

Budget 2023 also makes an extra $322 million available to early childhood education (ECE) services to lift pay for teachers and help them move towards parity with their kindergarten counterparts.

Education Minister Jan Tinetti said additional funding for young families to access childcare would help ease the cost of living pressures. (File photo)

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Education Minister Jan Tinetti said additional funding for young families to access childcare would help ease the cost of living pressures. (File photo)

For some this could to pay increases of $14,762, or 18.6%.

Tinetti said it was not just about fairness, but followed feedback from the sector that inequitable pay between comparable roles was contributing to issues like teacher shortages and staff retention.

Geena Fagan​​, of NZEI Te Riu Roa, was feeling “really positive” and said the funding boost for childhood education was a long time coming: ”We deserve this.”

Fagan, who works at a Dunedin centre, said it was an amazing step forward which would help teachers, students and their families.

The extension of the 20 hours free to two-year-olds would enable access to early childhood education for families who had never had it before.

She said it would help families at low income centres where she had worked previously, as well as private ones.

Ella Bates-Hermans

The notion of “free” childcare is a myth.

Fagan thought further support for pay parity would bring teachers into the sector but she still wanted to see full pay parity between kindergarten teachers and their primary counterparts, saying “a teacher is a teacher”.

Dr Sarah Alexander​​, chief advisor to the Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE), said it was welcome news but wanted the Labour government to deliver on its earlier promise to make 20 hours ECE free for three- and four-year-olds too.

She said pay parity funding was both “expected” and “necessary”.

Teachers in the sector had wanted to see improvements around teacher-child ratios and reducing class or group sizes, and funding for unannounced regular inspections of services.

In schools – both primary and secondary

Earlier this week, Tinetti announced plans to build 300 more classrooms and up to four new schools with $1.2b in new infrastructure expenditure over a five-year period. This would add approximately 6600 student places to the school network.

Seletute Mila, principal of Arakura School in Wanuiomata, says schools still have to choose between fixing roods and paying teacher aides.

JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/Stuff

Seletute Mila, principal of Arakura School in Wanuiomata, says schools still have to choose between fixing roods and paying teacher aides.

The popular Ka Ora, Ka Ako – Healthy School Lunch Programme will continue until the end of next year and additional funding is also going towards supporting students in school, including within kaupapa Māori and Māori medium education settings, and to improve access at schools.

Arakura School principal Tute Mila, of Wainuiomata, wanted to see a bigger increase in operations grant funding than the 3.5% delivered as this funding paid for day-to-day running costs and for teacher aide and administrative staff.

“Once again, we are being forced to make choices between fixing roofs and paying teacher aides,” she said.

It was positive to see the Budget allowed for the continuation of the school lunch programme but she was disappointed it wasn’t being expanded to other schools.

NZEI Te Riu Roa union president Mark Potter said while increased infrastructure spending and access improvements was welcome news, he wanted to see more done around finding the teachers to staff these spaces and there was “nothing for primary specifically”.

“There are some areas getting investment, but it won’t be enough.”

Chairperson of the Secondary Principals’ Council Kate Gainsford​​ said investment in early years was “very welcome” and would go towards helping students of all ages.

The “broad brush approach to wellbeing” was helpful and other “big ticket items” would help students by relieving financial pressure on their families.

Gainsford was also happy this year’s budget acknowledged the teacher supply issue, but said it lacked further detail about how exactly this would be resolved, similarly addressing learning support systems.

She also wondered how the end of Kahui Ako this year would be resolved in relation to contractual obligations within collective agreements.

PPTA acting president Chris Abercrombie says early education is the big winner this year.

BRUCE MACKAY/The Post

PPTA acting president Chris Abercrombie says early education is the big winner this year.

Chris Abercrombie​​, acting president of the Post Primary Teachers Association Te Wehengarua, said it was clear “early education” was the big winner this year.

While Abercrombie, whose wife is in early childcare, was pleased about this he said it was “disappointing” for secondary.

He said $44m towards addressing teacher supply issues through overseas teacher recruitment was unhelpful when the rest of the world was also experiencing a shortage.

There was nothing in this year’s budget which he thought would help resolve the current industrial action being undertaken by union members.

Tertiary sector

More than $521m, including an across-the-board 5% increase from 2024, was announced to help struggling tertiary institutions, described by Tinetti as the “biggest increase in at least 20 years”.

More than $180m was being directed to the Tertiary Education Commission to fund an extra 16,000 full-time equivalent students in 2024 and another 13,000 in 2025.

Universities New Zealand chief executive Chris Whelan​ welcomed the increase to tuition funding but said the situation remained “precarious”.

Budget 2023 also saw an extension of the Apprenticeship Boost initiative to the end of 2024, helping an estimated 30,000 apprentices to start or continue.

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