Summary of Education Portfolio Budget 2019 initiatives

Budget Initiative and Funding (five-year operating and 10-year capital)Description
Taking Mental Health Seriously

Sensitive Claims of Abuse – Funding to Resolve and Acknowledge Historic Abuse in the Schooling System

Vote Education

  • Operating = $6.145m
This initiative aims to ensure the resolution of claims against the Crown for allegations of historic physical, psychological and sexual abuse that occurred at a school, including residential special schools. This will be approached through an alternative dispute resolution process where the Ministry of Education works directly with claimants to resolve their grievances.
Improving Child Wellbeing

Additional Funding for Schools to Replace Parental Donations

Vote Education

  • Operating = $265.573m

Government introduces donations scheme for Decile 1-7 schools

This initiative aims to alleviate financial pressure on families who struggle to pay school donations, as well as benefiting eligible schools by providing greater certainty of revenue or increased revenue. This will be done by providing an additional payment of $150 per student to decile 1-7 state and state-integrated schools that agree not to request donations from parents.

Christchurch Schools Rebuild

Vote Education

  • Operating = $20.730m
  • Capital = $84.290m
This initiative aims to improve educational infrastructure for students in Christchurch following the 2011 earthquakes. This will be done by funding the Christchurch Schools Rebuild programme for another year. This funds part of the $1.137 billion announced in 2013 and cost increases identified in the 2018 midpoint review.

Cost Adjustment for Subsidies for Early Learning and Schools’ Operational Grant

Vote Education

  • Operating = $235.654m

School operational funding rates

ECE Funding Handbook Appendix 1

This initiative supports early childhood education services, ngā kōhanga reo and schools to maintain volume and quality while meeting the rising costs of resources, services, and staffing. The initiative is intended to limit the need for fee increases in early learning, reductions to the breadth and depth of curriculum, or deferral of maintenance. This will be done by increasing funding for schools’ operational grants and subsidies for services. The cost adjustment will take effect from 1 January 2020.

Creatives in Schools

Vote Education

  • Operating = 7.157m
This funding will enable a Creatives in Schools programme to be delivered to schools and kura. Professional artists and creative practitioners will partner with schools to share specialist artistic knowledge and creative practice with students. The creative learning experience will enhance students’ wellbeing, improve their core competencies in communication, collaboration and creative thinking, and inspire their awareness of careers in the arts and creative sectors.

Early Childhood and Schooling – Meeting Increased Demand

Vote Education

  • Operating = $296.281m
This initiative aims to ensure that schools and early childhood education services are funded to maintain existing levels of access and provision, in response to changes in demand. This will be done through providing funding for projected changes in expenditure on teacher salaries, schools’ operational funding and early childhood education subsidies.

Home-Based ECE Review – Improving the Quality of Home-Based Early Childhood Education

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = $6.265m

Vote Revenue

  • Operating = $0.609m

Vote Social Development

  • Capital = $1.669m
This initiative aims to achieve better outcomes for children by improving the quality of educator-child interactions in home-based early childhood education. This will be done by providing funding to tertiary providers to enable the existing educator workforce to upskill to a Level 4 ECE qualification. Funding will also be used to translate the qualification into other languages widely used in home-based ECE, such as Tongan and Samoan, so that educators who are not proficient in English will also be able to upskill.

Improving the Condition of School Property

Vote Education

  • Operating = $17.020m
  • Capital = $19.764m
This initiative aims to improve the condition and performance of school property through better information for decision-making. This will be done by collecting performance data on schools across three critical dimensions (condition, fitness for purpose and operational efficiency) to inform the systematic upgrade of all state schools, including school internet infrastructure, by 2030.

Improving the Quality of the Education System

Vote Education

  • Operating = $2.000m

Vote Education Review Office

  • Operating = $17.723m
                                  
This initiative aims to maintain and improve the quality of education. It does this by meeting cost pressures to enable the current review frequency for early learning services and schools to be maintained; providing funding to increase the frequency of reviews of early learning services by the Education Review Office; and increasing the proportion of tertiary courses monitored by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

Learning Support Coordinator Role

Vote Education contingency

  • Operating = $217.284m
  • Capital = $95.000m

This initiative aims to directly support the Learning Support Action Plan to develop an education system where every child feels a sense of belonging, is present and makes progress. Their wellbeing is safeguarded and promoted, and disabled children and young people and those with additional needs get the right support at the right time to support their learning.

The implementation of approximately 600 Learning Support Coordinators will support schools and kura to better identify and respond to the disability and learning support needs of children and young people.

Increasing Learning Support Funding in Line with Population and Demand Growth

Vote Education

  • Operating = $29.599m                     
This initiative helps to maintain timely and quality support for children and young people with additional learning needs, primarily for those with moderate needs. This support is essential for achieving good outcomes for these children and young people. This will be done by providing additional funding to the Ministry of Education to deliver a range of learning supports.

Learning Support - Addressing Critical Cost and Demand Pressures for Children and Young People

Vote Education

  • Operating = $81.318m

Led by the Associate Ministers of Education, Hon Tracey Martin and Hon Jenny Salesa.

This initiative aims to improve outcomes and wellbeing by ensuring that children and young people with learning support needs receive timely and quality support. This will be done by funding cost and demand pressures for a range of interventions. This includes:

  • improving education provision for students at risk of disengaging from education
  • early intervention services
  • maintaining access to education for deaf and hard-of-hearing children and young people
  • English for speakers of other languages
  • Te Kahu Toi intensive wraparound service
  • residential special schools
  • increasing access to assistive technology

Learning Support System Improvements - Creating a More Inclusive Education System

Vote Education

  • Operating = $7.640m

This initiative aims to create a more inclusive education system that welcomes and supports children and young people with additional needs. This includes an enhanced package of support for gifted learners and continuing to support students most at-risk of disengaging from education through the Te Kura Big Picture programme.

This will be done by funding access to out-of-school provision, events, opportunities and awards for gifted learners, and guidance and support for teachers. It will also fund a programme managed by Te Kura that offers face-to-face support and personalised learning programmes and courses, to support learners in reengaging with their education.

National Certificate of Educational Achievement Online: Transforming Assessment for Learners (NCEA Online)

Vote Education

  • Operating = $14.500m
  • Capital = $6.418m
This initiative aims to deliver equitable and inclusive online digital assessments. This will be done by funding new technologies and business processes to deliver digital assessments and learning.

NCEA - Removal of Fees and Funding of Cost Pressures

Vote Education

  • Operating = $49.000m
This initiative aims to remove financial barriers to learners accessing National Certificate Of Educational Achievement (NCEA) qualifications. This will be done through providing funding to remove the NCEA assessment fee for all students, without compromising New Zealand Qualifications Authority’s continued investment in a high quality NCEA assessment process, which maintains learner and community confidence in NCEA.

Providing Education Infrastructure Service with Sustainable Funding

Vote Education

  • Operating = $61.000m
This initiative aims to maintain the Ministry of Education’s current level of service in managing the school property portfolio. This will be done by providing funding to cover the increasing shortfall in the Education Infrastructure Service’s departmental operating expenditure, due to declining baselines.

School Property Programme to Deliver the National Education Growth Plan

Vote Education

  • Operating = $44.023m
  • Capital = $286.840m

Vote Education (contingency)
  • Operating = $16.917m
  • Capital = $913.290m

This initiative aims to deliver additional classrooms, new schools, property for kura and special education. It will also provide funding for land to accommodate student population growth and demographic changes.

It will also provide funding for land to accommodate student population growth and demographic changes. This will be done through providing funding for a 10-year programme that provides certainty to the Ministry of Education, schools and the construction sector. The first stage of funding for the 10-year programme has been appropriated in Budget 2019.

Teacher Supply – Continuing to Increase the Levels of Teacher Supply for the Future

Vote Education

  • Operating = $57.168m

Vote Tertiary Education
  • Operating = $24.572m

Vote Social Development

  • Operating = $13.259m
This initiative aims to ensure we continue to increase the levels of teacher supply for the future. This will be done through initiatives that:
  • enable the sector to “grow our own” domestic teacher base through attracting and training people to enter the profession, including through increased funding for initial teacher education
  • enable recruitment of New Zealand trained or overseas trained teachers, while the “grow your own” model beds in
  • assist the sector to retain the teachers we already have and any new teachers that will be coming on board in the future.
Supporting Māori and Pasifika Aspirations

Improving and Accelerating Education Outcomes for Pacific Learners

Vote Education

  • Operating = $27.397m
This initiative works to ensure that Pacific learners and their families have their identities, languages and cultures valued and respected and have the skills and knowledge, and equitable opportunities to pursue any education pathway. This will be done by partnering with communities to focus on achieving Pacific outcomes, growing the cultural competency of the workforce, and providing opportunities to learn in Pacific languages.

Restarting Te Kotahitanga – Supporting Equitable Outcomes for Māori Learners

Vote Education

  • Operating = $42.000m
This initiative aims to support equitable outcomes for Māori learners by addressing cultural bias and racism in the education system (Te Hurihanganui) and supporting whānau to engage in the education of Māori learners (Mana Whānau). This will be done by testing and evaluating supply-side initiatives that support education professionals to enhance classroom practice and whole-of-school culture. It will also test and evaluate demand-side initiatives that support whānau to engage in the education of their learners and enable iwi and Māori organisations to facilitate and broker this engagement.

Supporting Te Rūnanga Nui O Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori

Vote Education

  • Operating = $1.500m
This initiative aims to improve outcomes for Māori learners attending kura kaupapa Māori. This will be done by providing funding to Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori to better undertake its kaitiaki (guardianship) and kaitautoko (advocacy) functions.
Building a Productive Nation

Addressing Learners’ Needs by Improving Data Quality, Availability, Timeliness and Capability

Vote Education

  • Operating = $45.803m
  • Capital = $1.636m
This initiative provides a data system that enables a joined-up approach to data about student progress and learning support needs, throughout their schooling.

Computers in Homes

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = $1.000m
This initiative aims to contribute to positive outcomes for learning, psychological development, social skills and parental engagement through improving internet access in the home. This will be done through continuing funding for a Computers in Homes-type programme which will provide devices, training, technical support and support for home internet connectivity to learners and their families.

Reform Of Vocational Education

Vote Tertiary Education contingency

  • Operating = $197.132m (contingency)
This initiative will support the transition to a thriving vocational education system that better responds to learners’, employers’ and regions’ needs by implementing the Government’s Reform of Vocational Education. This will include changes to institutional forms and systems to support the ongoing sustainability of a broad range of delivery across New Zealand.

Support for Unitec Institute of Technology

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Capital = $50m

Note: $35 million of operating funding for Unitec has been appropriated in the Estimates but for technical and consistency reasons is not included in tables and totals prepared for Budget communications.
This initiative established an interest-free concessionary loan facility of up to $50 million from August 2018 for Unitec Institute of Technology to be repaid within 10 years. This loan is necessary for Unitec to manage cashflow issues and also supports right-sizing initiatives to ensure continuity of education and training programmes for students.

Increasing Tertiary Tuition and Training Subsidies: Maintaining Quality Tertiary Education

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = $154.777m
This initiative aims to maintain quality education by meeting cost pressures such as increases in wages and salaries. This will be done by increasing subsidy rates paid to Tertiary Education Organisations from the Tertiary Tuition and Training Multi-Category Appropriation by 1.8% from the start of 2020. This includes subsidies for Community Education, Student Achievement Component funding at all qualification levels, Youth Guarantee and Gateway programmes, and the Industry Training Fund.

School Leavers’ Toolkit

Vote Education

  • Operating = $3.500m
This initiative aims to increase opportunities for students aged 13 to 18 to develop civics knowledge and skills, financial literacy and key workplace competencies before they leave school. This will be done by funding for a package of tools, resources and targeted curriculum support for educators. It will also fund a Toolkit website and the development of ways to credential Toolkit learning.
Investing in New Zealand

Addressing Regulated Wage Pressures in Early Learning

Vote Education

  • Operating = $3.155m
This initiative supports certain early learning services to meet their statutory obligations under the Minimum Wage Act 1983 without compromising their quality of education and care. This will provide additional Equity funding for early learning services that predominantly serve children from lower socio-economic communities.

Addressing Regulated Wage Pressures in Schools

Vote Education

  • Operating = $6.699m
This initiative subsidises schools to meet their statutory obligations under the Minimum Wage Act 1983 without compromising the quality of education and other services. This will be done by providing an additional payment to schools as part of their operational grant funding.

Pay Equity – Settlement and Programme Costs

Vote Education

  • Operating = $14.804m

This initiative aims to ensure women receive the same pay as men for doing the same work and also for doing work that is different but of equal value.

This will be done by assessing current claims, funding litigation costs, oversight and coordination of potential future pay-equity claims in the education sector. The funding also meets the pay-equity settlement costs for Ministry of Education-employed support workers.

Payroll Legislative and Compliance Projects

Vote Education

  • Operating = $2.600m
This initiative aims to ensure that the schools payroll service is compliant with legislation, employment agreements, wider education policy and assurance requirements. It provides for addressing current and potential future schools payroll compliance requirements.

Schools Payroll Holidays Act Remediation Payments

Vote Education

  • Operating = $63.465m
This initiative aims to ensure current and former school staff receive corrective payments where they have not been paid in accordance with the requirements of the Holidays Act 2003, as identified through a compliance analysis programme which is under way. Funding will be used for payments to staff who have been underpaid as a result of compliance issues discovered and analysed to date.
Transforming the Economy

Schools’ Energy Efficiency Package

Vote Education

  • Operating = $6.060m
  • Capital = $13.000m
This initiative aims to improve the sustainability of the school property portfolio, including energy efficiency, in support of wider Government goals. This will be done through providing funding for new measures such as an Environmental Action Plan, progressive replacement of current school lighting with LEDs, and an energy efficiency trial and contestable fund.

 

Budget Initiative (five-year funding totals)Description
Reprioritisation of Funding to Support Government Priorities

Reprioritisation of Funding – Investing in Educational Success, Forecast Underspend for 2019/20 and 2020/21

Vote Education

  • Operating = ($59.000m)
This funding is no longer required due to forecast underspends in Investing in Educational Success in 2019/20 and 2020/21, primarily because of Communities of Learning role expenditure. This funding is being reprioritised to other areas in the Budget that will improve wellbeing for New Zealanders.

Reprioritisation of Funding - Investing in Educational Success, Forecast Underspend for 2018/19

Vote Education

  • Operating = ($43.803m)
This funding is no longer required due to the return of a forecast underspend in Investing in Educational Success, primarily due to Communities of Learning roles not yet appointed. This funding is being reprioritised to other areas in the Budget that will improve wellbeing for New Zealanders.

Reprioritisation of Funding - Teacher-Led Innovation Fund

Vote Education

  • Operating = ($7.000m)
The Teacher-led Innovation Fund (TLIF) is a component of Investing in Educational Success that provides funding for groups of teachers to develop innovative practices that improve learning outcomes. However an evaluation of funding rounds indicates that the educational benefits of TLIF are limited and applications for this fund have also been steadily reducing. The last round of funding will be in July 2019 and funding for other future rounds is being reprioritised to other areas in the Budget that will improve the wellbeing of New Zealanders.

Reprioritisation of Funding - School Property Maintenance for Vandalism

Vote Education

  • Operating = ($2.000m)
This funding is no longer required due to underspends and a reduction in expected costs in the School Property Maintenance for Vandalism fund. This funding is being reprioritised to other areas in the Budget that will improve the wellbeing of New Zealanders.

Reprioritisation of Funding - 2018/19 Underspends in Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) Administered Funding

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = ($1.390m)
This funding is no longer required for 2018/19 year due to lower-than- budgeted payments for programmes administered by TEC outside of the Tertiary Tuition and Training Multi-Category Appropriation. This funding is being reprioritised to other areas in the Budget that will improve wellbeing for New Zealanders.

Reprioritisation of Funding - Accounting Treatment of Recovery Exemption Expiration

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = ($95.000m)
A one-off saving in 2018/19 has been identified due to the end of the funding recovery exemption applied to tertiary education institutions (TEIs) affected by the Canterbury earthquakes. This accounting adjustment has no impact on the funding allocated to these TEIs from 2019, and will be allocated to other areas in the Budget that will improve wellbeing for New Zealanders.

Reprioritisation of Funding - Entrepreneurial Universities

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = ($12.207m)
The Tertiary Education Commission has not committed to further Entrepreneurial Universities funding rounds, and this reprioritisation initiative means there will be no further rounds. Unallocated funding for Entrepreneurial Universities is being reprioritised to other priority areas in the Budget that will improve wellbeing for New Zealanders. This will not impact on existing Entrepreneurial Universities contracts, but no new contracts will be entered into, and existing contracts will not be renewed once they expire.

Reprioritisation of Funding - Fees-Free Tertiary Education and Training

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = ($197.132m)
As data is reconciled with initial estimates that reflected maximum eligibility, some of the funding conservatively appropriated for Fees-Free Tertiary Education and Training is no longer required. This funding is being reprioritised to other areas in the Budget that will improve wellbeing for New Zealanders.

Reprioritisation of Funding - Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Graduate Schools

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = ($16.092m)
The ICT Graduate Schools programme will be discontinued from the end of the current contracts, which finish in 2020. Unallocated funding is being reprioritised to other areas in the Budget that will improve wellbeing for New Zealanders. This will not impact existing contracts, but no new contracts will be entered into, and existing contracts will not be renewed once they expire in 2020.

Reprioritisation of Funding - International Teacher Exchanges to Support Foreign Language Learning

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = ($4.224m)
As announced in September 2018, funding for International Teacher Exchanges to support foreign language learning is no longer required because the programme has been discontinued due to low numbers of participating teachers and students. This funding is being reprioritised to other areas in the Budget that will improve the wellbeing of New Zealanders.

Reprioritisation of Funding - New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarships

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = ($2.300m)
No new scholarships have been awarded since 2017, and this reprioritisation initiative will confirm that this scholarship will no longer be offered. Existing multi-year scholarships awarded will be grandparented. This funding is being reprioritised to other areas in the Budget that will improve wellbeing for New Zealanders.

Reprioritisation of Funding - Tertiary Tuition and Training Multi-Category Appropriation 2018/19 Underspends

Vote Tertiary Education

  • Operating = ($60.000m)
This funding is no longer required for 2018/19 year due to 2018 calendar enrolments being lower than the level budgeted for. This unspent funding is being reprioritised to 2019/20 to other areas in the Budget that will improve wellbeing for New Zealanders.

Last reviewed: Has this been useful? Give us your feedback