Donnelly Brian: General Debate 
Donnelly Brian: General Debate 
[Volume:633;Page:4642] 
Hon BRIAN DONNELLY (NZ First) 
: 
 A few weeks ago we heard of the decision that Church College is to close its doors. What people might not realise is that although it was entitled to do so that school which began in 1958 did not until the last couple of years accept any Government funding other than student-specific funding such as the ongoing resourcing scheme. We need to recognise the contribution Church College has made to New Zealand. Now that most of the 700 or so students from Church College will be entering the fully funded system the decision to close the school will have significant costs for the Government in terms of both additional buildings to accommodate students and money for ongoing teacher salaries and operational funding. 
In the State housing area where I grew up many kids attended private or independent schools. In fact over the country thousands of kids from working-class homes attended private schools. I am referring particularly to Catholic schools and members on both sides of the House will have attended Catholic schools when they were independent. Those schools had remained outside the State sector when the sector was established in 1877 and had received nothing from the Government since that time. 
In 1975 that all changed with the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act which drew all Catholic and many other independent schools under the State’s umbrella—but not all; a few retained their independence. There are now 112 independent schools catering for almost 30000 students. They range from decile 1 to decile 10 and have annual fees ranging from $400—I might note—to $12000. To put that into context I tell members there is an integrated school here in Wellington that receives virtually the same funding as any other State school but that is charging parents an annual fee of $4500. There is a primary State school in Auckland that charges well over $450 per annum. 
Over time the amount of support from Government for independent schools has ranged from a high of a 50 percent subsidy for teacher salaries in 1975 to a low of nothing in 1989. By the year 2000 the subsidy had been increased to 30 percent of the cost of a State student for years 1 to 11 and 40 percent for years 12 to 13. Interestingly enough at that time the GST paid by parents on fees paid was almost exactly half the subsidy provided by the State—in other words when $19.1 million was paid in GST $40 million was paid out in subsidies. 
But a decision was made by the new Labour Government to cap the total amount of money funded to independent schools at $40.2 million. The results have been drastic for those schools. As teacher salary costs have risen—and they have risen by 45 percent since 1998—those costs have had to be absorbed. As school running costs have risen—and they have risen by 39 percent since 1998—those costs have had to be absorbed. As student numbers have increased—and they have increased by almost 25 percent since 2000—those numbers have had to be absorbed. When the 1200 home-schooled Brethren students enrolled at independent Westmount School the Government saved itself more than $1 million per annum in home-schooling fees but it did not pay an additional cent for those students to be taught in the independent system. 
I am calling on the Government to revisit the capped fund policy because of its practical implications. There are those who say that independent schools should receive nothing. Regardless of one’s political position the truth is that those schools are still responsible for the education of young people in becoming fully productive citizens of our nation. It is our nation that benefits from what those schools are doing. 
There is also a practical reality. Independent schools save the country money and I can well remember Archbishop Liston during my time at school threatening the Government that if it did not come to the party then the Catholic proprietors would close all their schools down. It would be a massive cost to the Government if it had to cater for the 27000 additional students that would be its responsibility if the independent schools all closed tomorrow. 
There is actually an optimum point of subsidy from a cost point of view. Research by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research shows that it is around about the 45 percent mark. That is well above even the 30 percent subsidy but the result of the cap has been to reduce the rate to close to 25 percent. 
I say that the Government is treating those schools punitively. It is the parents who have already paid their taxes who are receiving the blunt end of the stick. They have to pay higher fees and more GST. Anyone with any sense of justice will see how unfair the situation is. So New Zealand First will be asking that the Government revisits this policy—not to give a full funding because we do not believe in that; not even to give the level of a 45 percent subsidy; but at least to give a return to the proportion of funding in 2000. We know that those who send their children to independent schools are unlikely to vote for Labour or New Zealand First but nevertheless it is up to the Government to do the right thing.