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Andrew Dickens: Why scrap the decile system if it works?

Author
Andrew Dickens,
Publish Date
Thu, 24 May 2018, 12:03PM
How will the government target funding to those children who need it it they get rid of the decile system? (Photo \ File)

Andrew Dickens: Why scrap the decile system if it works?

Author
Andrew Dickens,
Publish Date
Thu, 24 May 2018, 12:03PM

When opponents of the government phone this show, one refrain you often hear is that this is government is one of broken promises. They’re being held to promises made on the election trail which are yet to become real. There is a kernel of truth to this.

Take police numbers. Labour promised 1,800 and have delivered 1,100 in the recent budget. The opposition pointed out this was a broken promise. The government argued that they’ll get to that target by the end of their term. So is this a broken promise or not. The truth is in the eye of the beholder.

The latest broken promise is the abolition of the decile system in our schools. Education Minister, Chris Hipkins, says it will go but not until they have a better way of getting resources to the disadvantaged. This could take a while. The government’s problem with the decile system is that it stigmatises a school. Tell a school it’s decile 2 and you’re telling the world it’s not as good as a decile 8.

Now I’m sorry but this is political correctness, it’s fear of offence. My mother was a teacher at a decile 3 school for many years. The principal always said our school is poor yet proud. They were proud that their educational outcomes were as good as any other school from wealthier districts. Their decile rating was not a hindrance or offence

But what are Chris Hipkins choices? If they want to get the funding where it needs to go and they’re not prepared to target schools then they’d have to target individual kids and wouldn’t that stigmatise individual children and families in a close school environment? The only other choice is one of universality where every school gets the same funding which would defeat the purpose of wanting to lift the poor.

As we saw from the Winter Heating Payment this is a government who doesn’t like targeting because it might hurt some people’s feelings. They don’t like to call a spade a spade. But with the Winter Heating Payment it is now estimated that $20 million of funding will go to households that don’t need it. Which seems a waste. As someone emailed me, we already have a targeting system and that’s the community services card. Why not give the winter heating payment to cardholders?

Targeting is not offensive. It’s truthful and while the decile system seems blunt it’s probably the best way of ensuring taxpayer help heads to the right people

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