Frontline Blog for stuff.co.nz
15th June 2009

The aftermath of the 2009 budget reminds me of the 1991 budget. For a start the context was similar. A new National government had been elected and used the threat of recession to cut government spending which included the infamous slashing of welfare benefits in Ruth Richardson's "mother of all budgets".

Bill English's budget was a more conservative document but like the 1991 budget it has taken a couple of weeks for the full details to be absorbed and these reveal that while the overall education budget increased, there are savage funding cuts to many areas of public education. The most quickly and widely felt of these are the cuts to funding of night classes.

Bill English has decimated night school funding by 80% and the budget papers make it clear that "it is likely that there will be only a small number of schools receiving ACE (Adult and Community Education) funding for 2010 and beyond".

It is a reckless, irresponsible decision which will have far-reaching effects.

National intends trashing what is a kiwi tradition. Hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders have benefited directly from night classes in one form or another for over a hundred years.

For some it is to explore an interest, take up a hobby or learn new skills to help find a better job. For others it is learning to fit in better to a new country. Up to 200,000 are enrolled each year at 212 secondary schools. All this will go if Bill English has his way.

CLASS (Community Learning Association through Schools) have made it clear the cuts will mean the end of night classes as we know them. Overall class fees will need to treble to maintain the courses without a subsidy.

Informal surveys have already shown some two-thirds of current students say they would not have enrolled or been able to enrol with fees so high. Lower enrolments would mean fees skyrocketing even higher and well out of reach of most.

Education Minister Anne Tolley has derided night school class as "hobby classes". So what? Why should education be downgraded because it is what a person wants to learn as opposed to what a person is required to learn? Why should quality learning which provides an entry back to the workforce for some be abandoned?

What's wrong with learning Moroccan cooking or how to maintain your car? What better way to improve literacy and numeracy than to read a recipe, measure the ingredients and converse over a hotpot? These courses enrich New Zealand and are a part of our educational tradition.

CLASS points out that enrolments in night-classes have increased since the recession has hit. Isn't this a positive thing to encourage? Shouldn't people be looking to enhance their skills or find a way through to alternative employment? Not according to Bill English. He'd prefer we all stayed home and watched TV.

The economic fundamentalists will say night classes are a private good but in reality the benefits accrue to all of us. I'm not one for quoting the corporate sector but in this case it's worth recalling a 2007 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Adult Community Education organization. It concluded the estimated national economic gain of this type of adult education is in the range of $4.8 billion to $6.3 billion. Not bad for a government investment of just $16 million per year.

Night classes work so well because the buildings, and often the equipment, are already there and it's just the overheads, tutor and co-ordinator pay that needs to be funded.

It's difficult to comprehend the depth of stupidity in this decision. In one reckless cabinet decision Bill English has abandoned any pretence at National Party support for life-long learning and reaffirmed a user pays philosophy for publicly available education.

Instead of cutting $16 million from night-school education he could have saved more than double the amount by cutting the $40 million government subsidy for private schools given they have just 4% of our students on their rolls.

I hope you are angry when you read this. If you want to help then please sign and help circulate the CLASS petition at www.stopnightclasscuts.org.nz