Chris Abercrombie: PPTA President says principals need more guidelines on school spending

Little guidance around how money is spent on principals' wellbeing,  is being seen as a key cause for excessive state-school spending. 

A report from the Office of the Auditor-General - as reported in the Post - has discovered 54 schools were questioned for “sensitive” spending with no apparent educational benefit.

In 2022, the Ministry of Education paid $6.3 million dollars to 524 schools, with principals able to access up to $6,000 dollars each for wellbeing.

PPTA President Chris Abercrombie told Mike Hosking that there was little guidance on the money, which he says gave principals freedom to do as they see fit.

He says there weren't many rules about how the money should be used at the start.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In order to general support into schools. Spending raised a
few questions some schools. Turns out, I've been spending tens
of thousands of dollars on things like parties and private cars.
Chris Ambercrombie is the president of the Post Primary Teachers
Association and as well as Chris morning.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
To you, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Are there rules around this, good clear, clean rules that
have been broken? Or is it all a bit fluid?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
It can be a bit fluid. There are some, you know,
the rules that should be followed. There are some rules
about stuff, but some of these things are a wee
bit fluid.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yes, okay. So breen Bay College was the example given
over the weekend, ten thousand, six hundred and seventy one
dollars on a leaving party. I mean, is it fluid
enough for that or is that ridiculous?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, it's up to the school to decide that. There's
one of the things about South governor schools that order
to make recommendations around it. But the school, if they
feel that it's appropriate, can do that.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Okay. So where does that money come from? In? What
budget is it and what expectation generally would there be
on what it's spent for.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
So it could be donations, it could be ops, grand
it could be locally raised funds, it could be in
many ways that money comes in. And it should be about,
you know, improving educational outcomes for young people, but also
about recognizing the skill set of teachers. One of the
other ones was about a car. That's not an unusual

(01:13):
thing in schools. I mean, I've worked at a school.
We had a school car that we drove places for
professional development and meetings, et cetera, to save on one
taking their own car. So some of these things are
sort of a slight beat up. Some of them probably needed.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
How you would defend maybe the party you wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, and I think about the jackets as well. That's
not an unusual thing to have jackets for teachers for
doing professional for doing duty at lunch times, for school trips,
for sports quadaments, et cetera. It's not an unusual thing
for schools that have happened. So some of these things
I think probably a bit of a beat up some
of them. Maybe schools need to have a reflection.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
And when you get a report like this, does a
top down message go around to people saying, hey, here's
a few examples, we're a bit worried about let's tighten
things up or do we just carry on as per
There'll be.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
The definitely some discussions. There'll be three reminders from the
school Boards Association about expectations about the rules. Some of
these things probably would have been within the rules. They
just didn't follow the rules of that makes sense, So
they have to get something called concurrence from the Ministry.
They probably just didn't do that part when they should.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
I have Okay. The other thing, Ministry of Education grants of
up to twelve thousand dollars six points something million dollars
for five hundred odd schools for twenty three and twenty four.
Principles were able to get up to six thousand dollars each.
Is this a thing that's been going on, But it's
one of those funds you can do with whatever you want.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah. So for at the start, there was very little
guidance about that fund, so it was effectively Principles to
do as they sat about their well being. And then
there was some guidance that came out later on about it.
So there was a bit of a lag. And the
rules on that one was.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
That the Labor government Treat Yourself campaign post COVID was
that that one.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
A little bit of that, Yeah, so there was a
little bit of that, but there was also supporting principles
in their well being and professional or development, so there
was some options available to them, but there weren't many
rules about it at the start, but then rules came
out about it later on.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Chris, good to talk to. You appreciate it very much,
Chris aver Crombie. The brim Bay College ten thousand dollars
further five thousand, six hundred spent on jackets for stuff.
The jackets a thing. So if you're a teacher, you
go to work and you're expecting to stand the rain
at crossing time, is it your responsibility to have a
jacket or is it the school's responsibility to provide you
one twenty four thousand bream Bay seem to have been

(03:31):
highlighted over the weekend. The principal justifies the twenty four
hundred and twenty six dollars on gifts and party underpins
the school's values of Manati Tonga.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
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Speaker 1 (03:43):
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