Thirty-seven Auckland state high schools don\u2019t ask parents for voluntary donations, while 21 do.<\/p>\n
Parents don\u2019t have to pay the donations because state education is free by law.<\/p>\n
But some families have told the Herald they\u2019ve faced \u201cmassive financial stress\u201d paying donations on top of compulsory costs such as school camps.<\/p>\n
Patrick Drumm, headmaster of Mount Albert Grammar, said government funding didn\u2019t cover the additional staff the school needed to run its academic, arts and sporting programmes.<\/p>\n
Donations consequently boosted \u201cevery corner of our school life\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows our young people to experience a breadth of opportunities well beyond those offered by any other state school.\u201d<\/p>\n
The then-Labour Government tried to lessen the impact of donations by introducing a scheme in 2020 to pay state schools $150 per student if they didn\u2019t ask families for donations.<\/p>\n
However, it was targeted at communities in less advantaged areas.<\/p>\n
Schools in wealthier suburbs \u2013 those deemed by the Ministry of Education to have an Equity Index measure below 432 \u2013 were ineligible. <\/p>\n
The Herald found the amount 18 Auckland state high schools planned to request in donations in 2026 or did request in 2025 (in cases where the school hasn\u2019t yet published its requested amount for next year).<\/p>\n
Most schools ask for significantly smaller donations for a second or third child at the school from the same family.<\/p>\n
Mt Albert Grammar, for instance, asks for $550 for the first child, $200 for the second and $50 for a third.<\/p>\n
Principals at those schools seeking donations say they rely on parental help to cover the government funding shortfall.<\/p>\n
Epsom Girls Grammar principal Brenda McNaughton wrote to parents earlier this year saying her school received \u201cthe lowest possible levels\u201d of funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout the income from the parent donations each year, Epsom Girls Grammar School would struggle to operate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Auckland Grammar headmaster Tim O\u2019Connor has similarly said in past media reports donations were more a case of breaking even than being a cash cow.<\/p>\n
The Herald sought comment from Auckland Grammar but did not receive a response by deadline.<\/p>\n
\u2018Massive financial stress\u2019<\/p>\n
High school and primary parents have told the Herald in recent months donations and extra-curricular fees pile on financial pressure.<\/p>\n
One single mother north of Auckland, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she suffered \u201cmassive financial stress\u201d paying donations to her school.<\/p>\n
She only paid because she thought they were compulsory fees, she said.<\/p>\n
She believed the school hadn\u2019t distinguished clearly enough between donations and fees because of emails stating learners who hadn\u2019t paid \u201cmay not be able to continue in certain subjects\u201d.<\/p>\n
In another section it called donations optional but also \u201cessential\u201d.<\/p>\n
She and other parents weren\u2019t given receipts, meaning the donations couldn\u2019t have been claimed as tax-deductible, she said.<\/p>\n
She eventually realised the donations were voluntary and after what she described as a months-long battle received a refund, but not before being put into \u201chardship\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n
One Auckland mother said while many extracurricular activities that required compulsory payments on top of donations were technically optional, refusing to pay them left her child \u201csitting in a class on their own like a leper\u201d.<\/p>\n
She claimed it felt like her high school was chasing new requests for money \u201cevery week\u201d.<\/p>\n
Her school asked for $96 per child for swimming lesson fees \u2013 despite also offering free summer swim lessons \u2013 and $140 for science and activity fees, such as dances and \u201cgarden-to-table\u201d cooking classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are fundraisers, discos, coloured shirt days for just about every kind of charity that all require \u2018donations\u2019 or tickets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She wished the school would \u201cfocus\u201d on getting her \u201ckids to read and write\u201d and let her sort out the swimming, dancing and cooking at home.<\/p>\n
Another parent said costs had risen so high her family couldn\u2019t afford to attend the school plays. <\/p>\n
Having already paid for costumes for her two children, tickets to the junior and senior school plays were costing $80 for both parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cost of school discos has risen to $15 per ticket. They give them an ice block and chips but there is no option to pay less and not get the food,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Donations versus fees<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the time of year when donation requests land in inboxes, but legal experts have reminded parents they don\u2019t have to pay.<\/p>\n
The Community Law Centre\u2019s website said schools must make it clear donations are optional.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, some schools use the term \u2018fee\u2019 or even \u2018levy\u2019 to describe the voluntary donation, which makes it seem like wh\u0101nau have to pay it \u2013 this is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crucially, schools cannot punish students for non-payment. <\/p>\n
Community Law warned schools could be breaking the law if they withhold a student\u2019s school report to \u201cencourage\u201d payment. <\/p>\n
They also cannot stop a student from attending a curriculum-based event, such as a Year 11 geography trip for an assessment, just because a donation wasn\u2019t paid.<\/p>\n
Mount Albert Grammar School headmaster Patrick Drumm says donations help every corner of school life at his college. Photo \/ supplied<\/p>\n
However, there was nuance. <\/p>\n
If a student makes something they want to take home, such as a woodwork project, the school could charge for materials, for instance, and withhold the item if unpaid. <\/p>\n
Similarly, extracurricular learning excursions \u2013 study or sport that weren\u2019t part of essential learning, such as a weekend ski trip, school ball or cultural excursion \u2013 could attract fees.<\/p>\n
One example is swimming lessons being free if part of the general curriculum but incurring a fee if they are voluntary lunchtime activities.<\/p>\n
Anything deemed to be a donation must be labelled as such and schools cannot charge GST on them. <\/p>\n
Parents can also claim a 33.3% tax credit back from the IRD on any donation they make.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thirty-seven Auckland state high schools don\u2019t ask parents for voluntary donations, while 21 do. Parents don\u2019t have to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[94516,23602,51,3952,26325,33489,71,78926,10938,2959,78,10882,111,43,139,69,1523,3766,110108,6649,40249,13672,7567],"class_list":["post-169977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-94516","tag-amounts","tag-auckland","tag-aucklands","tag-donation","tag-donations","tag-from","tag-grammar","tag-herald","tag-high","tag-in","tag-lists","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-parents","tag-requested","tag-schools","tag-seeking","tag-state","tag-voluntary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}