State aid 'must be partnership’

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33540, 22 May 1974, Page 12

State aid 'must be partnership’

(By our education reporter)

Roman Catholic education authorities have made it clear that new proposals on State aid to private schools must be a

partnership and not a take-over.

The annual meeting in;' Wellington of 180 delegates from the country’s regional l Catholic Education Council' at the week-end decided unanimously on six principles which the Roman Catholic authorities insist must be im- . plicit in proposals to inte- , grate private schools with the , State system. These principles are:— The right to teach, develop 1 and implement Roman . Catholic programmes in ( Christian faith and liv- , ing. , The right to administer staff t appointments and arrange j for staffing that ensures < the retention of the \ Roman Catholic charac-e ter of schools. It The right first to enrol child- * ren of Roman Catholic ■ parents, and then to - enrol children of other parents seeking a Chris-; 1 tian educational environment. The ncht to extend existing r schools and to build new ones to meet the demand ( of legitimate expansion s and proven need. , The right to own land. < school* and auxiliary, c buildings. t

The right of the Roman Catholic community to make financial contributions to the cost of maintaining schools. The chief negotiator involved with the Working Party on State Aid to Private i Schools (Mr J. D. Dalgety, of Wellington) told the delegates that there would be no surrender on the basic principles. The conference gave its assurance that the Roman Catholic education system would continue to work closely with other independent schools. It expected that the integration proposals now being worked out among the Government, the Education Department. private schools, the Educational Institute and the Post Primarv Teachers’ Association will take some time. The Government was urged to imnlement its policv on providing 50 per cent of ■he salaries of teachers in private schools: at the moment it pavs 321 per cent Some Roman Catholic educational authorities have severe financial problems—’he Wellington Catholic Education Board will have a deficit exceeding £300.000 this year.