School funding system a key issue for new education minister

<h4 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">New education minister&comma; Nikki Kaye&comma; who took over from Hekia Parata on Monday&comma; is already under the pump from teachers&&num;8217&semi; unions anxious to have key issues resolved&period;<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">NZEI Te Riu Roa president Lynda Stuart says the proposed replacement of the decile system by a predictive risk index is one of the most pressing issues facing the new minister&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This is something we absolutely must get right and we still have a number of concerns about the privacy of children and families in regards to how the data is used&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Also&comma; the education funding shortfall must be addressed as part of any changes&period; Schools of every decile are struggling to meet the needs of their students under current budget levels – if a changed system means more funding for some and less for others&comma; that’s going to hurt a lot of children&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">One of the other top issues in education is pay equity&comma; says Ms Stuart&comma; with mediation currently underway for Education Support Workers employed by the ministry to work with ECE children needing additional learning support&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Education is the next big area for pay equity claims&period; Education support workers are paving the way for other women working in education&period; Thousands of women working as teacher aides&comma; and support staff in schools&comma; are next in line for pay equity talks&comma; with ECE teachers close behind&comma;” said Ms Stuart&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;