Post by Kiwi Frontline on Dec 17, 2016 16:10:53 GMT 12
CALL FOR CLARITY AFTER $700K SCHOOL TRIP TO HAWAII
The rules around using public money to fund students' overseas travel need to be clarified, says the principal of the Rotorua school that went on a $700,000 trip to Hawaii.
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Ruamata took all its 139 students, 21 teachers and 73 caregivers on the trip last year.
In an audit report, the Office of the Auditor-General said it was unusual for a school to spend so much on a trip like that.
The report was one of almost 2500 routine audits of schools just released.
It said that those who went to Hawaii contributed just $37,000 to the cost.
They had done such trips before and would do them again, she said.
"We've retraced the footsteps of our ancestors.
"We've been to Rarotonga, we've been to Tahiti, we've been to Rangiātea. Now we can tick off Hawaii and I'm not quite sure where we'll go next."
Dr Dewes, who set up the kura 28 years ago, said the Hawaii trip would provide at least two years' worth of learning.
"We went back to the place that our canoe left from and came to Aotearoa from.
We took caregivers with us because our approach to education is that the whole whānau is involved ... This is one year on, and we're still [studying] the topics."
www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/320628/call-for-clarity-after-$700k-school-trip-to-hawaii
The rules around using public money to fund students' overseas travel need to be clarified, says the principal of the Rotorua school that went on a $700,000 trip to Hawaii.
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Ruamata took all its 139 students, 21 teachers and 73 caregivers on the trip last year.
In an audit report, the Office of the Auditor-General said it was unusual for a school to spend so much on a trip like that.
The report was one of almost 2500 routine audits of schools just released.
It said that those who went to Hawaii contributed just $37,000 to the cost.
They had done such trips before and would do them again, she said.
"We've retraced the footsteps of our ancestors.
"We've been to Rarotonga, we've been to Tahiti, we've been to Rangiātea. Now we can tick off Hawaii and I'm not quite sure where we'll go next."
Dr Dewes, who set up the kura 28 years ago, said the Hawaii trip would provide at least two years' worth of learning.
"We went back to the place that our canoe left from and came to Aotearoa from.
We took caregivers with us because our approach to education is that the whole whānau is involved ... This is one year on, and we're still [studying] the topics."
www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/320628/call-for-clarity-after-$700k-school-trip-to-hawaii