Waitara ditching donations
There’s a lot of, I guess, guilt trips around school fees and donations that go on throughout the centres.
Principal Daryl Warburton
As some parents begin worrying about the costs of sending their children back to school, one Taranaki high school has taken some of the burden off families’ hands.
Waitara High School will not be asking for any voluntary donations or course fees for the 2018 school year and until further notice.
‘‘Personally it was because I’ve always believed education should be free,’’ principal Daryl Warburton said. ‘‘That’s what the Education Act states.’’
He said he had been frustrated over the years by the additional costs schools asked for.
Warburton said Waitara High could reprioritise their funding from the Ministry of Education so it would adequately fund their needs. Parents will not have to pay donations or course fees, or for workbooks, computer use or field trips.
‘‘We can cover all that in our budget we feel and still give our students the best and have a wellresourced school. We really want to support our community.’’
He said for some families, education costs climbed to thousands of dollars.
Warburton said he had heard of a few primary schools taking the same path, including Ross Intermediate in Palmerston North, but he didn’t know of any secondary schools.
‘‘There’s a lot of, I guess, guilt trips around school fees and donations that go on throughout the centres and we’re really working to take those walls down.’’
By next year, they hope to add stationery and sports to the list of expenses covered.
‘‘We’re reducing costs there as much as we can and I’d really like to get those down to zero as well next year.
‘‘We’re just stoked to be able to do it for our community.’’
Data from education fund provider ASG shows the cost of education in New Zealand has increased in the past decade.
For a child born this year, ASG estimates private schooling would cost $360,074 over 13 years, state-integrated education $102,730 and state education $38,227.
Parents of kids at state schools could expect to pay almost $30,000 in non-fee education costs over their 13 years in the system. At private schools, that rises to almost $55,000.
ASG chief operating officer Bruce Hawkins said school costs were a burden on families already facing rising costs of living.
‘‘A child’s education is one of the most significant investments a family could make. If you have three children, the cost of educating them in New Zealand’s private education system could top $1 million.
‘‘That’s significantly more than the purchase price of the average family home in many parts of the country,’’ Hawkins said. ‘‘The index also debunks the myth, a state education is a free education, with the latest figures showing New Zealand families could spend on average $38,227 per child on a so-called free education.’’
Much of that came from ‘‘incidentals’’ including uniforms, textbooks and technology, he said.
He encouraged parents to do research and make sure they understood what costs were involved with sending their children to a certain school. Schools, for their part, should look to cut or absorb costs for parents where possible.
Parents will not be too shocked by the news that a free education is not exactly free. Nor will many of us be surprised to learn that when it comes to education, our equal society is a long way from being equal.
A report released by the Australian Scholarships Group (ASG) has found a child who starts a state primary school in New Zealand in 2018 will have cost their parents $38,227 by the time they finish Year 13 in 2030. And that is at the relatively affordable, accessible end of education. The same stretch of time in a state integrated school will cost $102,730. At the elite end, a private school education would cost a staggering $360,074.
While fees are the majority of the cost of state integrated and private educations, in state schools extracurricular activities drive up the costs.
Costs in some sectors have increased faster than others. While the rate of increase in state and state integrated schools has actually declined compared to 2017, private school costs have soared. The ASG reports that the estimated cost of a private school education has risen by 42 per cent in a decade, while wages have grown by only 22 per cent over the same period.
State integrated costs have also outpaced wage growth, reaching 30 per cent. Only state education has grown at a slower rate of just 13 per cent.
The Government’s promise of $150 per student per year to schools that get rid of voluntary donations will go some way towards making state education more affordable for families. When the policy was promised in 2017, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said that funding shortfalls have put pressure on parents who have been required to dig deeper and deeper to pay for the basics of their children’s learning.
But the larger picture painted by the ASG report is a depressing one of struggle and inequality. Even annual donations of $150 are unaffordable for some New Zealand families. That is in stark contrast to the privilege displayed by families that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on private schools. As well as perceived educational benefits, they will also be seeking social advantage and status.
Labour campaigned on a promise of investing an extra $6 billion in education over four years. It argued that the education sector is under-resourced and over-stretched and that the quality of education is starting to suffer. Reversing the inequalities that have been built into the system is only part of it. New Zealand schools are also facing a teacher supply crisis.
The Education Gazette shows that there are 370 vacant primary and secondary teaching positions, according to a Newshub report. The Post Primary Teachers’ Association argues that the figure is much higher, possibly 700 vacancies. This means that many schools may start the year with larger class sizes than they or parents would like, or will make do with temporary or less qualified teachers.
Families may soon see what years of education underfunding looks like in a classroom.