Tamaki bails out school

DESTINY Church founders Brian and Hannah Tamaki have dipped into their personal fortune to help prop up their financially troubled school.

The couple loaned the school $10,000, part of a $160,000 cash injection from Destiny charities after the school posted losses of nearly $250,000 in 2015.

School trustee Anne Williamson said the Tamakis had been big givers to Destiny School since its inception, and all of their grandchildren had attended the school over the years.

The school had slashed costs, cutting $100,000 from their wage bill, axing $27,000 in consultancy fees and dropping staff expenses from $10,283 to $1238.

According to documents filed with the Charities Service, the school also fundraised an extra $50,000, and Destiny Auckland, which owns the site of the school, waived $26,000 in rent.

The school owes an undisclosed amount of money to the Inland Revenue, and has organised a repayment plan.

Auditors JSA the school was still in ‘‘technical insolvency’’.

‘‘Its future relied upon the the ‘‘continuation of financial support from Te Hahi O Nga Matamua Holdings.’’

Williamson said the school, which had a roll of 89 per cent Maori and Pacific Islanders, was achieving above average academic results when compared with similar schools.

Destiny had been rejected three times for integration into the public system, and also had two applications to become a charter school declined.