Te Wharekura o Manurewa principal Mahia Nathan says the Government's announcement to replace the decile system is a waste of time as his school will continue to be treated as a low decile school.
The principal says the school decile system should remain.
Mr. Nathan says, “The decile system has grown on us and I believe many other schools around here for the past 15 years and the decile system doesn't reflect our financial position.”
Education Minister Nikki Kaye says the system will be replaced with extra funding for at-risk children who have enrolled.
The Minister says, "It stigmatizes both schools and young people."
Rotorua Girls' High School also sees the benefits of the current system.
Principal Ally Gibbons says, “Some people use it in a negative way. We haven't let that influence the way that we deliver our education for our young women at all.”
Te Wharekura o Manurewa is a decile one school and receives $250,000 a year for students' education.
“If the funding decreases throughout our schools, then we're not backing this new policy”, Mr. Nathan says.
Mrs Gibbons says, “If we get more putea then that's even better, I should say. But they still have to have some form of addressing inequity.”
The ministry will conduct a funding review by the end of the year for implementation in 2019.