Funding Boost for New Zealand Schools: Monday the 2nd of December, 2019

It was announced over the weekend that a new government investment of four hundred million dollars into schools for property upgrades & maintenance & this would go into effect as of tomorrow.

The announcement was made by the Prime Minister Jacinda Adern during the closing moments of her speech at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Wanganui on Sunday. 

Two thousand & fifty schools will be eligible to receive a minimum of $50,000 with a maximum of $400,000, depending on roll size. 

That’s six hundred & ninety three dollars per student! The one-off cash injection is the biggest investment in school maintenance in at least 25 years. To talk further about this investment is Education Minister Chris Hipkins who spoke to me this morning about the governments school infrastructure plan in full.

Then, to talk further through the initiative & the investment, Louis spoke with Lynda Stuart, president of the New Zealand Educational Institution - an organisation who are employers, as well as the union representing all teachers, who lead and advocate for quality public education. Here is Lynda Stuart with N.Z.E.I.’s response.