Hipkins ChrisEDUCATION (SCHOOL DONATIONS) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): I move That the Education (School Donations) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Education and Workforce Committee to consider the bill and at the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 19 August 2019.This bill delivers on the Government's commitment to restore the right to a free schooling for all New Zealand students. The Wellbeing Budget reflects our commitment as a Government to break down financial barriers to participation at all levels. Budget 2019 is about reducing child poverty and improving wellbeing.The Education Act of 1989 provides that every person who is not an international student is entitled to free enrolment and free education at any State school from their fifth birthday until 1 January after their 19th birthday. However we know that while this is the legal commitment that we have to free schooling in New Zealand it is not a commitment that has always been delivered on. Many schools are dependent on financial contributions from parents and that does need to change. The request for donations can place significant financial pressure on parents and there is often significant pressure to pay what are supposed to be voluntary contributions.Access to free education is the best way to ensure that every New Zealander has a fair shot at success. This year's Budget delivers the largest Vote Education increase in 10 years. There are around 1703 schools in New Zealand who will be eligible for an additional $150 per student if they choose not to ask their parents for donations if they choose to accept this policy. Boards of trustees who opt in to receive the $150 per student per year will have to agree to certain conditions the main one being to stop asking for donations from parents. This will be in place from the beginning of the 2020 school year. The scheme will be delivered through a new discretionary grant for decile 1 to 7 schools and it will result in the largest increase in schooling operations grants for those schools in 10 years. By decreasing the number of schools that request donations we'll be reducing the pressure and the widespread expectations that schools need to ask parents for donations.The Education (School Donations) Amendment Bill amends the Education Act of 1989 and it will support schools' compliance with the donation scheme. It's a very simple bill. It creates a new category of grants called discretionary grants". Discretionary grants are grants that the Minister of Education may pay to boards subject to the condition that a board does not solicit voluntary payments from parents. The bill enables the Minister to seek conditions on the payment of this extra funding—primarily that boards stop soliciting voluntary payments from parents—and if these conditions are breached the bill enables that funding to be recovered from boards. These changes will give participating schools a strong incentive to understand and comply with the conditions of the donations scheme. It will alleviate the risk of schools double-dipping and it will ensure that parents are relieved of the pressure.Schools that opt in to the donations scheme will be able to ask parents and caregivers for payments related to additional activities outside of the curriculum—for example Saturday morning sports. They'll also still be able to run general fund-raising activities like school fairs and galas and it does not prevent them from seeking donations from sources other than parents—for example community trusts and other forms of grants. It doesn't prevent them from receiving unsolicited donations. So if parents do want to make a donation to the school that hasn't been asked for of course they are welcome to continue to do that. It simply prevents the school from asking for it.This initiative builds on other commitments the Government has made to break down financial barriers to participation in education at every level. Fees-free tertiary education the scrapping of NCEA fees the scrapping of scholarship fees—these are significant advances that have already been progressed. This year's Budget also increases funding for early childhood education to reduce the financial pressure on parents. This bill allows us to take the next step towards a genuinely free schooling system by ending the pressure that many parents face to pay school donations and I commend it to the House."