Teachers’ relief at scrapping of bulk funding proposal

<h4 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">NZEI president Louise Green and PPTA president Angela Roberts say taking bulk funding off the table is a big win for public education and the thousands of teachers and school support staff who united in unprecedented numbers at more than 50 union meetings around the country in September&period;<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Ms Roberts says parents and educators had rejected bulk funding because they realised it was a cost cutting tool that would force schools to make trade-offs between hiring teachers and other costs&period; Thousands of parents signed postcards to the minister calling for better funding&comma; not bulk funding during a national roadshow organised by the two unions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Ms Roberts says the win is good news for learners&comma; as bulk funding led to fewer teachers&comma; larger class sizes and narrower subject choices for students&period; She says the two unions welcomed the opportunity to now focus on how funding could be used to improve equity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&&num;8220&semi;Not that the distraction of bulk funding has been removed&comma; we can begin the real work of developing an equitable funding model that works for every child&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">However&comma; Ms Green warned that ditching the decile system and replacing it with more targeted funding would not help schools unless the chronic under-funding of education was also addressed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&&num;8220&semi;We call on the government to take the next step&comma; to increase school funding and restore funding to early childhood services&comma; which has been frozen for six years&comma;&&num;8221&semi; she says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"> <&sol;h4>&NewLine;