Parents give $13.4m to schools
Canterbury schools relied increasingly on parents and charitable grants to solicit more than $13 million in voluntary donations in 2015.
Increased donations – a $1.56m increase on 2014 compared to less than $1m growth between 2013 and 2014 – reflected schools’ ‘‘constant juggling act’’ to balance the ever-increasing costs of education with what parents can afford.
Data from the Ministry of Education showed Canterbury’s 237 schools received $13.4m, an average of $56,477 each from families, alumni, charitable trusts and other fundraising in 2015, the latest year available. Those optional donations, though only 1.8 per cent of schools’ revenue in 2015, were considered crucial to provide everything from sun umbrellas to support staff.
Principals said donations paid for resources that communities took for granted: library books, school excursions, IT equipment and, increasingly, health and safety compliance costs and extra teacher aide hours. Government operational funding covered the basics of education – teacher salaries, classrooms and decile-based funding – and schools were resigned to asking parents and pub charities for donations, as much as they might not want to.
‘‘Whatever school principal you speak to, regardless of their decile, would tell you we need the extra money,’’ Canterbury Primary Principals’ Association president Jeanette Shearer said. The ‘‘constant juggling act’’ of schools’ budgets and their costs was a ‘‘double whammy’’ for low-decile schools uncomfortable asking families to give more.
Ilam School principal Paul Dolan said 80 per cent of its parent community donated about $140 per family but were unlikely to be able to pay more.
‘‘We have got the whole gamut from families from Fendalton and Merivale to struggle-street Riccarton. Some families pay $3 per week, and those families I really admire.’’
Other schools were putting fresh effort into grant applications. Shirley Intermediate principal Geoff Siave said they were ‘‘almost continuously’’ applying for targeted funding, while Bruce Kearney of Kaiapoi High said applications had taken increasing precedence in recent years.
‘‘If you want to make something new or something better within the school then you have to look for outside help,’’ he said.
Continuing previous years’ trends, high-decile schools took a disproportionately large cut of overall donations. Decile 10 schools accounted for 18 per cent of Canterbury schools but received 26 per cent of donated money ($78,887 each on average).
Of the top 10 yielding schools in the region, all were decile 8 or higher. The top earner, Christchurch Boys’ High School, received $652,098 in 2015, nearly triple that given to all Canterbury’s decile 1 and 2 schools combined.
‘‘Our community is more ambitious than the Government for the outcomes they want for their students, the opportunities and the sense of belonging they can create at Christchurch Boys’ High,’’ principal Nic Hill said.
He said roughly 60 per cent of the school’s operational costs were locally raised. Donations from its Old Boys’ association contributed significantly to an upgraded playing field and $3000 restoration of its WWI memorial shrine, among other projects.