School funding protest bus in gear
Better funding, not bulk funding, is the message being spread across the country’s schools.
Teacher unions the NZEI Te Riu Roa and the PPTA have launched a bus tour in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to raise awareness of the Government’s proposed school funding changes.
The Better Funding Better Learning roadshow visited the North Shore on Tuesday, with a stop at Greenhithe School to get parents and teachers to sign its petition to the Government.
Teacher Natasha Jones was one of a handful of teachers and union representatives greeting parents before school with a clipboard and postcard.
Jones, a first-year teacher, worries about the impact on her job if the proposals go ahead and funding freezes continue.
‘‘I wake up every morning thinking about my kids. I came to this job for the kids. These are our future generation. If they’re going to tell our kids they’re not that important, then they’re not going to still have the great country we have.’’
The Ministry of Education announced a global funding proposal in August which the NZEI says will result in less money for public education, fewer teachers, and bigger class sizes.
In September, the two unions staged nationwide stopwork meetings to protest the proposal.
Jones said the proposal was full of teaching jargon and hard for people to understand, but she was hopeful the unions could get the message across to the school’s parent community.
‘‘They’re so upset because they can’t understand and the Government is taking advantage of that.
‘‘It’s important for them to see how this will affect teachers and know what’s going to happen.’’
In September, an advisory committee recommended the proposal be dropped. - Fairfax NZ