School principals upset about lost income

Secondary school principals are angry the Government is not helping them cover millions of dollars in lost income from international students.

They say it is unfair that private schools have been able to get just over $9 million from the Government wage subsidy, but state-funded schools get nothing.

Auckland Secondary Principals’ Association president Richard Dykes said the lack of international students meant schools had lost an income stream worth tens, if not, hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide.

Dykes said jobs tied to those students were at risk.

‘‘Any students who were due to come here – as of the last school holidays for the rest of the year, they’re now not coming,’’ he said.

‘‘So therefore there’s a significant drop in income. Now most schools that I know are going to carry on those employments but the risk is can we sustain that employment and certainly into next year.’’

He said secondary principals were frustrated that private schools could access the wage subsidy, but state schools can’t.

Macleans College principal Steve Hargreaves said international students contributed $900,000, before expenses, to his school. He said he was not happy that his school could not access the subsidy.

‘‘I don’t think there’s a lot of justice in there, on the surface of it yes we’re a statefunded school and therefore the Ministry of Education was looking after us and on that basis, I can see why we wouldn’t be eligible for funding,’’ Hargreaves said.

‘‘However, all the schools that have an international student market employ extra staff, just like any private business.’’

Christchurch’s Burnside High School principal Phil Holstein said Government funding only provided a portion of the income at many schools.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said in a statement he was sympathetic to the principals’ complaints and had been talking to the Secondary Principals’ Association.

‘‘For schools, about 11,000, or nearly nine out of 10, of the main 2020 intake of international students were already in the country when travel restrictions started and many are still here.

‘‘But we know that some of the bigger schools are more exposed than most,’’ Hipkins said.

He said the Government had given schools emergency funding to cover wages, including those usually funded by international students.

But that funding finishes on May 20 and principals want a longer-term solution to help cover their costs. – RNZ