Squeezed by shortfalls in Ministry of Education funding and a growing number of high-needs learners, schools are forced to dip into operational budgets, forego property maintenance, and ask whānau to pay for basic supplies.
“Schools like ours are being asked to absorb increasing numbers of learners with increasingly complex needs without the resources required to support them effectively or safely,” says Mt Cook School Principal and NZEI Te Riu Roa member Adrianne McAllister.
At Mt Cook School, seven learners receive learning support through the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS). However, more than 10 additional ākonga require that same intensive level of support while receiving little to no extra funding or specialist support from the Ministry.
To bridge the gap and keep these children supported, Mt Cook is diverting $210,690 from its operational funding this year.
“This is money intended for teaching, classroom resources, and improving outcomes for all ākonga,” Mrs McAllister says. “Instead, schools are forced to redirect increasingly limited operational funding to fill the gaps in a system that is failing our most vulnerable learners.”
The situation is replicated in many schools across the country.
At Apanui School in Whakatane, only three of the 18 learners with severe, complex needs currently qualify for ORS funding. The Teacher Aide funding required for these children amounts to $288,000 this year, while the Ministry’s support for inclusion funding for Apanui amounts to just $26,799.
“We have to beg, borrow, and steal to make it work and provide the support every child needs, as is their right,” says Apanui School Principal and NZEI Te Riu Roa member Marama Stewart.
Apart from redirecting more than a third of the school’s $800,000 operational funding, Mrs Stewart says the school relies heavily on the fundraising efforts of teachers and whānau to reduce camp costs. It also keeps a tight rein on the relief teacher budget, cuts back on curriculum spending, postpones some property maintenance, and carefully manages staffing and other discretionary expenditure.
Mrs Stewart says the school has to constantly shuffle budgets and make trade-offs to support tamariki. “I’m busy looking for grants instead of focusing on best-practice teaching.”
A principal for 17 years, she notes that access to learning support is shrinking as needs rise. “The budget has not kept pace with inflation for years, while the number of learners requiring specialist support continues to grow.”
Mrs McAllister says the situation is unsustainable.
“The Ministry of Education and the Minister continue to make decisions that do not reflect the realities schools are facing.
"We need meaningful investment in learning support, earlier access to specialist services, increased funding for schools with high levels of need, and policies that recognise the realities facing communities across Aotearoa. Every school should be adequately resources to meet the needs of its community and provide a safe environment for everyone."
NZEI Te Riu Roa is advocating for a teacher aide in every classroom and a change to how teacher aides are funded so that schools can afford them sustainably and provide decent job security.
In its Platform for Change 2026, the education union is calling for cross-party commitments to five key actions over the next five years to boost the quality of teaching and learning for tamariki:
- Funding a teacher aide in every class
- Investing in quality early childhood education
- Valuing educators better
- Upholding Te Tiriti in the curriculum and wider education system, and
- Creating an independent Curriculum and Assessment Council