12. Investing in Educational Success Programme—FundingCHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to the Minister of EducationInvesting in Educational Success Programme—Funding12. CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to the Minister of Education: Does she stand by her statement in June 2014 with regard to the Investing in Educational Success initiative parents will be very pleased we're making such good progress on something that will make a real difference in our schools and classrooms"?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Yes and I would like to congratulate the member. This is the first full and accurate quote he has attributed to me.Chris Hipkins: How is having 93 percent of the $359 million in funding that was appropriated back in 2014 remaining unspent in the Crown account making a real difference to schools and classrooms?Hon HEKIA PARATA: Yes I am very impatient about that figure because it reflects the 1-year delay caused by the NZEI's negotiations and so a programme that was supposed to begin in 2014-15 did not get under way until 2015-16 and despite that year's delay which has the practical effect of hundreds of teachers being denied access to these new roles we are nevertheless at a case of having 180 communities of learning formed accounting for 15003 schools and kura and nearly half a million students in New Zealand.Chris Hipkins: Does she think the delay could perhaps have been avoided if she had designed the policy better in the first place given that after it was announced a survey of school principals found that 54 percent were opposed outright to the plan and 27 percent had serious concerns about the policy while only 4 percent thought it was a good idea?Hon HEKIA PARATA: No I do not agree with the member given that the working group involved representatives from the peak bodies and from the unions prior to it being announced. We worked nevertheless at the pace that the unions wanted to work at and we are now in the situation where as I have said over half of all schools are involved in this really exciting initiative. But the travesty here is that the delay has caused hundreds of teachers to not have access to these new roles.Chris Hipkins: Why will parents be pleased that over $330 million remains sitting unspent in the Crown accounts given that since she became Minister in 2011 parental contributions to their kids' education have increased by over 23 percent—almost five times the rate of inflation?Hon HEKIA PARATA: Parents should be very concerned about that member's ability to actually read Government accounts or even survey information because the figure that he persists with includes fees for private schools whereas the facts based on the financial returns of schools are that parental donations have remained consistent at about 1.8 percent. And they are donations—therefore they are voluntary therefore parents are making them.Chris Hipkins: Why have 32 percent of the allowances paid to teachers under the Investing in Educational Success initiative been paid to teachers working in the highest-decile schools while only 2 percent has been paid to teachers working in decile 1 schools?Hon HEKIA PARATA: We are just heading past the 2-year mark of this programme. When it first began higher-decile schools were the earlier adopters. But as of the end of last year I am happy to relieve the member's anxiety by telling him that we have 150 decile 1 schools whereas we have 141 decile 10 schools. We have 156 decile 3 schools and 156 decile 8 schools. In fact the distribution across all types of schools is pretty even. So the member will therefore have his anxiety relieved.Chris Hipkins: Why does she continue to claim that school funding is at record levels when the analysis released today through Infometrics shows that on a per child basis school funding has increased by just 2.3 percent in real terms under her Government compared with an increase of 22 percent in real terms between 2002 and 2008 under the last Labour Government?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I have not seen the Infometrics report yet but there is only one set of facts and they are in the Government's Budget accounts. The member is invited to go to my website where they are there in very simple terms to understand: that we have gone from just over $8 billion to $11.04 billion. In the period 2010 to 2016 inflation I think cumulatively went up by 10.9 percent while operations grants went up by 16.8 percent and the number of kids—Chris Hipkins: And the number of kids went up.Hon HEKIA PARATA: —thank you Mr Hipkins—went up by 3.6 percent.Chris Hipkins: How has decreasing funding for school capital by 13.9 percent in real terms over the past 8 years resulting in kids languishing in cold damp leaky and overcrowded classrooms made a real difference in our schools and classrooms?Hon HEKIA PARATA: It is just hard to take this seriously. My Associate Minister Hon Nikki Kaye has done something that no other Minister has done which is to commission and to have a condition assessment of every school building across New Zealand. That now gives us a basis against which to invest taxpayers' funds and prioritise where we do redevelopment refurbishment address leaky building issues earthquake strengthening and so forth. What I can tell the member again is that factually we have spent a third more in the 8 years that we have been in Government than occurred in the 8 years under that previous administration all of which is in the Government accounts publicly available to those who can read them."