UNFAIR DIFFERENCE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 65, Issue 5494, 6 July 1942, Page 2

UNFAIR DIFFERENCE

HIGH AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS CAPITATIONS COMMITTEE PROTESTS At a meeting of the Te Awamutu District High School Committee on Friday evening the following letter, protesting against the “gross injustice of the niggardly allowances granted to Committees of District High Schools” as compared with those made to secondary schools, was received from the Matamata Committee:—

“District High Schools—and in particular the larger ones—-meet exactly the same community needs as do Secondary Schools, yet the financial provision made for the two types of schools is amazingly different.” Take a single illustration:— Matamata District High School has a secondary roll of 215, and an Intermediate roll of 197. The Secondary Department is thus larger than some independent Secondary Schools. The grant for incidental expenses is £384 15s. Now, under the amended Secondary school grants given. in the May Gazette, a Secondary School with a roll of 215 would receive:—

1. Flat rate grant of £2OO 2. £2 per pupil ...... £430 3. Library flat rate grant £lO 4 Library capitation £l9 £659 While provision is further made where the Minister is satisfied that the Secondary School grant is inadequate, he may authorise up to' £2OO per annum in addition. Note, too, that the Secondary School grant given above is for Secondary pupils. Where there is an Intermediate Department attached to a Secondary School,, adequate provision is made for that addition. The District High School, however, has to make its £384 cover both departments. In the past, when comparisons have been made between Secondary Schools and District High Schools, various attempts have been made to justify the vastly greater grant made to the former.

1. The Secondary School grant provides for office assistance for the Principal. Reply: In District High Schools exactly the same records are kept and exactly the same correspondence is necessary, but the Headmaster has to do that work himself and usually out of school hours. 2. It is stated that in the case of District High Schools the Education Boards bear cost of science materials, etc., which are a charge on Secondary School grants.

Reply: That is quite true, but the amounts the boards pay is a mere fraction of the difference between the two grants.

We affirm that there can be no justification for the great difference between the grants made to the two types of schools. We therefore invite your active co-operation in putting an end to this injustice.” TE AWAMUTU’S ATTITUDE Mr J. A. Johnson said that the larger grant would throw the onus of maintenance on the committee. A big item in this connection, painting, would recur about every five years and it would be necessary to establish a fund for this purpose. Mr Les. Spence considered that an extra £2OO per year would easily cover all maintenance costs. Mr W. S. Earwaker thought that some good reason must exist for the difference in the allowances, and the chairman questioned whether it would not be advisable to communicate with Mr W. I. Bowyer, member of the Education Board, before proceeding further with the matter. The Headmaster (Mr W. G. S. Smith) explained that the present capitation was £332, whereas if the school was constituted as a secondary school, although providing the same facilities and education, it would qualify for an allowance of £560, with a possible further £2OO, making a total of £760 for the secondary department alone, while for the intermediate department the present allowance would remain. High schools, went on the speaker, were favoured with higher grants than primary schools, but secondary schools received an even greater capitation. It was a survival of the old system fashioned to encourage boys to learn Latin and Greek and become “gentlemen,” he added. The chairman: There might be a nigger in the wood pile that we know nothing about. Several members agreed that maintenance charges would have to be excessive to absorb an extra £2OO a year. After further discussion it was decided, on the motion of Messrs L. C. Day and Spence, to protest to the Education Board that the' capitation for children attending secondary departments should be made to equal that of children attending High Schools, since both were providing the same educational facilities. The secretary was instructed to bring the position before the notice of the Minister of Education, the member of Parliament for the district, and the Auckland School Committees’ Association.