A youth aid agency says funding to address poor school attendance rates will go a long way.

The Government has announced a $40 million package ahead of the Budget to tackle truancy issues.

It includes roughly $15 million to scale up support for at-risk young people to reengage in school.

Te Ora Hou Otautahi General Manager Jono Campbell says told Mike Hosking they have been vastly under-resourced for a long time.

“We can only afford four staff to work across the whole of the secondary school environment, all secondary schools. And technically we’re meant to work with all schools who want to be part of the service, that includes primary. So four staff.”

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