Unfortunately, as a school we seem to be in a constant state of fundraising. Our Board of Trustees are aware that this can be confusing at times and want to take a moment to answer some frequently asked questions.
1) Why all the fundraising, there is a donation scheme now, surely that covers it?
Sadly, this is not the case, the current funding we have is not enough to cover the necessities of the curriculum, let alone the 'nice to haves.' The school donation scheme simply replaces old parent donations, but now means we are not able to even ask for donations, meaning we have to fund anything that is seen to be within the curriculum at school and required for learning. Each year the Board and staff try to be as frugal as possible and still set a deficit budget. Teacher aides, office staff and relievers are all paid out of the same budget as electricity and toilet paper. This is called operational funding.
The reality is that the majority of teachers are paying out of their own pocket for items in their classrooms.
2) How does staffing factor into this?
Many years ago the Board made a commitment to keep classes at Kaurihohore as low as possible. In Year 4 - 6 classes the funding ratio from the ministry is 1-29. We think this is far too high and try to keep these classes to a top number of 24. This is only made possible by funding that is committed within our operational funding. If we were to rely on the money given for staffing we would have at least one less class. Basically Room 10 would not exist.
3)So how is this extra funding need covered?
That is where the wonderful PSG come in. Each year the Parent Support Group commits approximately $13000 to our budget. This goes towards covering this shortfall by allowing us to direct our budget to cover the things that are considered extras in our budget, like reading books, digital tech and math equipment. Isn't it sad that such important items in a school are considered 'extras.' To raise this $13000 each year the PSG has to do fundraising on top of what the school is doing each term. To cover any other items like a hard cover for our turf, even more fundraising is needed. Simply put, without the money that is raised by the PSG our class sizes would be larger, up to 30 in some cases.
4)So why is the school still doing their own fundraising like the sponsored run and the sausage sizzles?
This fundraising is just to ensure we cover the basics of our budget and come out all square for the year, these fundraisers are included in our budget lines to cover the day to day running costs of the school, that is why the school still has to do their own fundraising too, we are counting on the funds raised.
5)How else are funds raised?
The school regularly applies for grants to cover items like math equipment etc that we wouldn't be able to afford otherwise.
We absolutely understand that it can be difficult to support fundraisers. We understand everyone is in a different financial situation. In particular we understand the pressure of the current climate.
We try to ensure we are only raising what is specifically needed.
However it is important to note that donating time is just as important as donating money, so please consider joining the parent support group if you can possibly do so. You don't have to be able to attend meetings, you can join a specific committee and support in any way that you can.
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