Principals dispute decile reviews
Three Matamata schools who had their decile ratings reviewed are not happy with the end result.
Te Poi School principal Linda Larsen was ‘‘not very happy’’ that her 64-student school’s jump from decile five to seven was upheld.
‘‘I would love to know how they justify it.’’
She said the school would make up the funding shortfall, which would be ‘‘somewhere around the $5000 mark’’, through fundraising and ‘‘shaving money from budget’’.
This will mean instead of fundraising for things like more iPads and improvements to the playground, the money will have to go towards day-to-day things like teacher aides.
‘‘It is annoying that the ministry gives you your funding to work out your budget first and then do the decile rating review, instead of doing it the other way around.’’
Larsen was confident her ‘‘brilliant’’ community would get behind the school ‘‘just like they normally do’’ and help out with fundraising.
Firth School principal James Eldridge was ‘‘ not a happy chappy’’ after his school’s rating change, from 3H to 3I, was upheld in the review. ‘‘One letter means our operational grant will have $10,000 less,’’ he said.
He had been told by the ministry he had one more chance to protest the review in August but must first record the income of all students’ families. ‘‘ Can you imagine all the families saying: oh yes you can know how much we earn,’’ he said. ‘‘I can’t go around knocking on 200 doors.’’
He was also frustrated that his ‘‘neighbours across the paddock’’, Matamata Intermediate, which his school roll feeds into, gained $8000 from going from decile six to decile five.
St Joseph’s Catholic School principal Yvonne Marshall was not going to be ‘‘woe is me’’ about having their review of going from a 3H to a five upheld, even though the funding cut will cost the school access to a social worker.
‘‘ As a small school we don’t want to be perceived as not being able to offer everything that kids need,’’ she said. ‘‘In fact, what we do have goes around further.
‘‘Ten computers won’t go far in a big school but will for us.’’
The school, with a roll of 28, will lose $5000 of funding over two years through the decile rating review. Marshall said their fundraising activities normally raised about that amount and the funding cut would mean they just broke even after fundraising.
Decile ratings could be based on both or one of two things. It could reflect the area a school draws its students from or the school’s families’ economic makeup.
Decile one is the lowest decile rating, while 10 is the highest.
Each rating attached to it.
The Ministry of Education recently recalculated decile ratings for the first time in seven years, as the ratings are revised after looking at census information. The census normally happens every five years but the Christchurch earthquakes delayed the 2011 census until 2013.
also has a
letter