Principals hail new equity system
School leaders happy to see back of decile system
Bay principals are pleased to see the end of school deciles — with one describing the new Equity Index as a much “fairer, accurate and relevant tool to provide funding for equity”.
Another school leader hopes the change will stop figures from being misused “as a proxy for quality of a school”.
From next year, every school will have an Equity Index number ranging from 344 to 569.
The higher the number, the more barriers students face in their educational achievement.
Mount Maunganui College principal Alastair Sinton hoped the new system would “remove the stigma attached to deciles” — in particular, the misuse of the system when comparing schools.
He felt “generally positive” about the decile system being replaced and supported the staged approach to resourcing, which would help schools manage budget changes.
“My hope is the index will provide those schools in the most need with appropriate and proportional resourcing.”
He did not want to disclose the school’s equity number saying the effect of the change would become clear later in the year.
Te Puke Intermediate principal Jill Weldon said decile ratings were an “outdated, irrelevant tool for working out how to provide equity in schools”.
Weldon was on the principal reference group with the Ministry of Education that was involved in discussions, testing and a review of the Equity Index.
“A brilliant piece of software created by . . . the Ministry of Education data team now provides a much
fairer, accurate and relevant tool to provide funding for equity.”
She said the number for Te Puke Intermediate was in the “late 400s”, which was to be expected — however, it was still unclear what this would mean for funding.
“Either way, this portion of funding is designed to enable us to provide equity for those who need it and nurture their educational success.”
Sunset Primary principal Eden
Chapman said the index was “more nuanced and fair” compared with the decile system but it was “too early to know” how the changeover would affect the Rotorua school’s funding.
“I hope that we don’t see any change. A school like mine was already at the extremes — being a decile 1a school. We already benefit from a lot of helpful interventions,” he said.
“But I am very happy that as a system, we do recognise there are some extra barriers for some schools — and that resourcing is one important ingredient to dealing with that.”
He could not recall the school’s new number, however, said it was “reasonably high”, in line with his expectations.
Chapman also expected it would create a change of mindset around using “deciles as a proxy for quality of a school”.
“It is about as far from the truth as it could be.”
Rotorua Girls’ High School principal Sarah Davis said the decile system was “fairly clunky” in terms of how it measured the student population using census data.
She was pleased the equity index numbers would be “more specific and tailored” to students actually attending the school.
“We are really happy — but with all of these things, the devil is in the detail. We are yet to know what our rating turns into.”
Each school’s number would determine its share of an equity funding pool, which it can use to counteract educational disadvantage among its students.
Previously, $161 million of equity funding was shared out among the country’s 2500 schools each year, weighted towards the lowest deciles. This has increased by almost 50 per cent to $236m.
The numbers have been calculated using 37 socioeconomic factors, ranging from transience and parents’ benefit history to the parents’ education level, all of them with different weightings.
Regional data shows on average the most deprived schools are in Te Tai Tokerau — average Equity Index number 506 — followed by Tairawhiti (491) and Bay of Plenty (489).