2028 (2025). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Associate Minister of Education

2028 (2025). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Associate Minister of Education: How much, if any, total funding is the Charter School Agency providing to fund charter schools on a per-student basis?

Hon David Seymour: Budget 2024 set aside $123.3 million of non-departmental funding over four years to fund charter schools and enable the delivery of education. New funding from Budget 2024 will largely be used to cover the establishment and ongoing operating costs of new charter schools. Funding for charter schools has been calculated so that it is broadly equivalent to the resourcing for state schools of a similar roll and type. Each component within the five funding categories (establishment, property, services, staffing and operations) has been allocated a value which reflects the value of equivalent resourcing for state schools. In addition to the $123.3 million provided through Budget 2024, funding will be transferred from Vote Education to the Charter Schools Appropriation as students move from the state school system into a charter school. This funding will also be used to fund school operating costs. This is because a key principle of the charter schools funding model is that ‘funding follows the child’. At this stage it is not possible to say how much will be transferred as this will be demand-led. This funding profile reflects initial Budget 2024 assumptions of expected timelines and demand for charter schools. As the Charter School Agency contracts with more sponsors and the delivery profile becomes clearer (i.e. when schools are established and grow), surplus funding will be transferred to future years or returned to The Treasury. This is also my response to written parliamentary question 2039 (2025)