Public release of advice to Minister of Education regarding Māori Education Trust

The Ministry is making public recent advice we have given to the Minister of Education regarding our work with the Māori Education Trust (“MET”).

The Ministry of Education supports MET to provide secondary and tertiary scholarships for Māori students. Since 2009, the Ministry and MET have co-funded scholarships for 1,802 students.

The Ministry of Education has an agreement with MET (going back to 1994) to assist MET dollar-for-dollar, up to a maximum of $664,000, to fund scholarships for Māori students. The Ministry also pays MET an administration fee of $109,000 per year to contribute to scholarship administration costs.

MET is an independent charitable trust, and the Ministry of Education’s interest in their activities is solely for the purpose of the administration of scholarships. The Ministry has no role in the management or governance of MET. This includes any investment decisions made by MET, like decisions to sell farm land.

The three education reports we have provided to the Minister of Education have given advice and information about:

  • difficulties MET has faced
  • the steps MET has taken to improve its situation
  • the steps the Ministry of Education has been taking to protect the taxpayer’s contribution to MET and to help MET to return to a strong position
  • options the Ministry has considered about the way we work with MET, other options for using the funds, and the reasons we have decided to keep working with MET.

The reports also provide information on things like the number of scholarships that MET has provided and the amount of money the Ministry has paid to MET.

Education Report: Māori Education Trust and Sale of Mapuna Atea Farm (19 February 2015) [PDF, 2.7 MB]

Education Report: Māori Education Trust Update (9 March 2015) [PDF, 2.2 MB]

Education Report: Māori Education Trust Update (4 June 2015) [PDF, 1.8 MB]

 

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