ACE cuts may cause schools significant hardship
new-zealand-labour-party
Wed Sep 23 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
ACE cuts may cause schools significant hardship
Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 5:15 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Hon Maryan Street
Spokesperson for Tertiary Education
Spokesperson for Trade
Spokesperson for Treaty Negotiations
23 September 2009 Media Statement
ACE cuts may cause schools significant hardship
Anne Tolley’s stubbornness may cause high schools significant financial hardship if they have to find money to pay redundancies to night class co-ordinators or tutors, says Labour’s Tertiary Education spokesperson Maryan Street.
“Schools are being advised to use their Adult and Community Education (ACE) funding to pay for redundancies by cutting term four ACE programmes.
“Apart from the questionable legality of that, it means schools are having to stop their night classes earlier than 2010, when funding stops,” Maryan Street said.
“When asked if she would reconsider the funding cuts to ACE if schools found themselves in circumstances of financial hardship because they had to pay for unbudgeted redundancies, the Minister said ‘no’.
“Now we have the situation where the Government is creating redundancies through funding cuts and is expecting schools to deprive students of services or equipment to pay for them,” Maryan Street said.
“This is a shameful abrogation of responsibility by the Minister, who also admitted she had no idea what the costs of those redundancies would be.
“Communities nationwide have highlighted the broad social and economic costs of removing the lifelong learning opportunities the night classes provided.
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“The redundancies impose a further price. Firstly, they will cost real people real jobs at a time of rising unemployment. There are 212 ACE co-ordinators employed across the country and a further 15,000 tutors.
“Secondly, they will cost schools. Particularly worrying is that schools in lower decile areas are likely to be worst hit by redundancies – and are, of course, less likely to be able to afford it. These schools are unlikely to be able to run many self-funded courses as their communities won’t be able to afford the fees.
“Just yesterday we saw the Government unable to explain how it reconciles community claims that NZ Sign Language, other language learning courses for deaf people and ESOL courses will be axed as a result of the ACE cuts, with its assurances to the contrary. Now this. The picture just gets gloomier.”
ENDS
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