Secondary principals say the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on emergency managers for failing schools each year might be a waste of money.
The Secondary Principals Association has called for a review of how the Government intervenes in schools.
The Ministry of Education spent $693,000 in the last financial year reimbursing schools for the cost of their commissioners and limited statutory managers.
The schools spent even more than that, but the ministry does not know how much.
Whatever the sum, the association says it is not a good use of the money because some schools require repeated intervention.
The ministry says that has only happened at three schools within a year of an earlier intervention but the association says a longer time period needs to be considered.
It says the Government needs to review the approach and school trustees, the Post Primary Teachers Association and the Principals Federation agree.
