7. Question No. 7—EducationHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of EducationQuestion No. 7—Education7. Hon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Minister of Education: Is he confident that he can meet the expectations of the education sector and parents in Budget 2019 in light of his promises and potential teacher strikes?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): I'm very optimistic about the Budget although indications around the overall level of education spending in this year's Budget will of course have to wait until Budget day. What I can say with regard to the announcements that have been made already about education spending in this year's Budget is that I am confident that the significant increase in funding for teacher training that we announced last week will address the teacher shortage that we inherited. Hon Nikki Kaye: Hasn't he failed to meet expectations with the pre-Budget announcement in that it doesn't even deliver half of the 8000 additional secondary teachers needed over the coming years and will he take responsibility for the increased class sizes and overcrowding that will occur? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The member's number of 8000 is simply incorrect. The correct numbers according to the ministry's teacher supply projections for primary schools are that in 2019 we needed 650 more teachers. That actually starts to decrease to the point where in 2023 we're expecting a 90-teacher surplus. With regard to secondary school teachers the extra number required this year was 170. That continues to increase to the point where by 2025 that number gets up to an extra 2210. The extra funding that I have announced this week delivers over 2500 extra teacher trainees in addition—in addition—to other teacher supply measures such as free refresher training for those who have already completed their training but who are not currently registered. Hon Nikki Kaye: I seek leave to table those exact modelling documents which demonstrate the cumulative impact is 8000 additional teachers over the next five years. SPEAKER: The source? Hon Nikki Kaye: It's the Ministry of Education documents. SPEAKER: From a website? Hon Nikki Kaye: Well again I don't think it is. I've seen it via email but I can check that post - question time. SPEAKER: I'll put it anyway. Is there any objection? There appears to be none. Documents by leave laid on the Table of the House.Hon Nikki Kaye: How will he meet the expectations of parents who believe the Government promised to scrap school donations when he is a year late on the $150 payment that was promised and figures that I have seen project that at least half of schools would not scrap donations as a result? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: With regard to the school donations policy we were always very clear that it was going to be a voluntary uptake amongst schools and that they would have the choice whether to take it up or not. The financial modelling that the Labour Party did prior to the election did not assume that every school would take up that policy. We recognised that in fact some schools particularly higher-decile schools get significantly more than $150 per student in donations. With regard to the commitments around timing the Government made a commitment to deliver that policy within the first term.Hon Nikki Kaye: How will he deliver on his promise to modernise all of the more than 20000 school buildings in New Zealand given that the potential true cost of that is $10 billion?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The member will have to wait until the Budget.Hon Nikki Kaye: When the Prime Minister said in the Speech from the Throne that the Government will spend one point—SPEAKER: Order! Order! Order! I don't think she did.Hon Amy Adams: The Governor-General reads it out.Hon Nikki Kaye: When the Governor-General read out from the Speech from the Throne the Prime Minister's commitment to spend $1.8 billion on teacher resources was it just another case of the Government overpromising and under-delivering?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No. In fact we've already delivered more than that. The teacher salaries alone amount to $1.2 billion in extra funding and that's on top of the extra money that we've put into recruiting more teachers to meet population growth which we funded in last year's Budget. The member will just have to wait and see what's in this year's Budget.Jan Tinetti: What is the Government doing to address the expectations of the education sector?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I will highlight just three things very briefly. First of all as I indicated we've already committed $1.2 billion to pay rises for the teaching profession—the largest pay increases in a decade. We've committed half a billion dollars extra to support those children with additional learning needs including by employing 600 more teachers as dedicated learning support coordinators and we've spent $135 million to address short- and medium-term teacher supply challenges.