A change in Ministry of Education funding for secondary schools next year will make budgeting and planning difficult, according to Marlborough's principals.
Marlborough Boys' principal Wayne Hegarty said the change from annual funding to term-by-term based on roll numbers meant there was no certainty about what the total budget would be for the year.
In his speech at the Boys' College prizegiving on Wednesday, Mr Hegarty said the school's roll at March 1 this year was 976 – 24 less than the school budgeted for and 49 less than the ministry projected.
The school was also expecting a smaller roll of 938 students for Term 1 next year, which meant less funding, he said.
According to the ministry website, the change will affect all state and state integrated schools with students in years 9 to 13, but will not affect how school staffing entitlements are calculated.
Each student was funded for about $1000 from the ministry for the year, but varied depending on whether they were senior or junior students.
The retention rate for students at Boys' College was quite high (93 per cent in Year 13 between March 1 and September 10 this year) and students left the college for various reasons, including families moving or students going into employment. The college was preparing its 2011 budget and some cuts would be made, but Mr Hegarty did not want to pre-empt what those would be.
Marlborough Girls' College principal Karen Stewart said the change in funding would be difficult because the school still had fixed costs such as power, rates and paying for support staff.
"It makes it difficult for text books and big ticket items – you can't order 29 books and expect them to be there tomorrow," she said.
Finding employment or apprenticeships for students was part of the school's effort to provide ongoing education, but now the ministry wanted to keep students in school until the end of the year, she said.
"If they [the students] get NCEA Level 3 and that's what they need to get into a course and that's their goal, they'll leave if the right job comes up."
Queen Charlotte College principal Tom Parsons said a funding cut did "seem like a punishment" for schools working hard to get students into good employment. However, he also acknowledged the viewpoint of the Minister of Education, Anne Tolley.
"I can understand the minister when she says `I'm not going to pay for students you don't have' – that does make sense," he said.
Mr Parsons used an example of a school which had an influx of students throughout the year and would get no funding for them, but would on a term-by-term basis.
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