Education Circular 2024/01

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School financial year and payment schedule
Change of bank account number
GST queries
Per-student subsidy rate calculation
Rolls used for funding
Ongoing Resourcing Scheme – cashed up updates
Export Education Levy
More information

Date 10 September 2024| Circular 2024/01 | Category Resourcing

This circular is about Private School Subsidy Funding for 2025.

This circular replaces Private School Subsidy Funding 2023/09.

The action needed is to note the information.

It is intended for proprietors and principals of private schools.

School financial year and payment schedule

The 2025 funding year commences on 1 January 2025 and concludes on 31 December 2025. Quarterly instalments will be paid in advance, at the beginning of each funding period, as shown below:

Date paid (2025)	Period covered	Number of months funded	% paid of remaining grant
3 January	January - March	3 months	25.0%
1 April	April - June	3 months	33.3%
1 July	July - September	3 months	50.0%
1 October	October - December	3 months	100.0%

This payment method ensures that when an entitlement is adjusted, either up or down, the board will receive 100% of the school’s entitlement in the current year.

Change of bank account number

If a school’s bank account number changes, a change of bank account form must be completed. Email your completed form to:

Accountspayable.Suppliermaintenance@education.govt.nz

Or post it to:

The Finance Division
PO Box 1666
Wellington.

Forms are available here:

Operational funding payments

GST queries

Operational funding entitlements and instalments in Pourato display the entitlement for each component as a GST exclusive amount.

Boards are required to account for GST on the full amount received. If you have questions about GST or other tax obligations, consult:

Education Centres: A Tax Guide for Organisations that Provide Education (IR253), available from the Inland Revenue Department.

Per-student subsidy rate calculation

Calculation of rate

Subsidy funding is provided at a set rate per student.

The per-student rate is set by taking the fixed government appropriation – currently set at approximately $41.57 million GST exclusive – and dividing it by the likely demand.

Per-student subsidy rates for 2025

The per-student rates are set at four levels to recognise the cost of curriculum delivery at each year level.

This table shows the per-student subsidy rates for the 2025 year:

Year level	2025 Funding rate GST exclusive	2025 Funding rate GST inclusive
Year 1 - 6	$848.57	$975.86
Year 7 - 8	$929.23	$1068.61
Year 9 - 10	$1189.22	$1367.60
Year 11 - 15	$1806.12	$2077.04

Rolls used for funding

Funding roll

Boards are funded on what is considered to be their peak roll.

July roll - primary schools
March roll - intermediate, area, composite and secondary schools

Funding is initially calculated using your provisional roll and is adjusted throughout the year once your actual rolls are received.

Pourato calculates your provisional roll using your school’s previous roll returns. This is the same process used for state and state-integrated schools. For primary level students, Pourato uses the current and previous year’s July rolls, and the current and previous 2 years’ March rolls. For secondary students, Pourato uses the current and previous 2 years’ March rolls.

New entrant adjustment

A new entrant adjustment is added to the actual roll for primary and composite schools. This estimates the number of new entrants likely to enrol between the date of the roll being used and 10 October.

Where a March roll is used, a new entrant factor of eleven-twelfths is applied to the year 1 roll. The result is rounded up to the nearest whole number.
Where a July roll is used, a new entrant factor of five-eighteenths is applied to the year 1 roll. The result is rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Rolls used to calculate funding payment

School type	January instalment	April instalment	July instalment	October instalment
Primary	Calculated provisional roll	actual roll submitted on March 1 roll return	actual roll submitted on March 1 roll return	actual roll submitted on July 1 roll return
Intermediate, area/composite, secondary	Calculated provisional roll	actual roll submitted on March 1 roll return	actual roll submitted on March 1 roll return	actual roll submitted on March 1 roll return

Ongoing Resourcing Scheme – cashed up updates

Boards receive funding for ākonga verified as having high or very high ongoing learning support needs through the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS). This is equivalent to the ORS staffing entitlement for state and state-integrated schools.

ORS Cashed Up student and funding information will display in Pourato for the 2025 year. Your current student details are in the ‘Students’ > ‘ORS Cashed Up’ tab.

The 2025 indicative operational funding will include an ‘ORS Cashed up’ component for eligible students and will display in Pourato from 13 September 2024.

Go to the Funding > Operational Funding tab and display the 2025 year.

Your quarterly payment for ORS Cashed up will be paid with your term 1, 2025 Operational Funding instalment.

The Ministry of Education webpage has some useful information.

Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS)

Contact your local Ministry of Education Office if you have any questions.

Regional offices

Export Education Levy

The Export Education Levy is payable by any education provider that enrols international fee-paying students. This includes private schools. For private schools the levy is calculated as 0.5% (including GST). State and state-integrated schools pay the Export Education Levy as a component of their International Student Levy.

The Export Education Levy is used to fund promotion, capability development, pastoral care services, research, and quality assurance for the international education sector.