Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Public not misled on class size savings, says Govt

Updated at 1:01 pm on 12 June 2012

The Government has conceded not all the savings it planned on making from increasing class size ratios would have gone towards improving the quality of teaching.

The Government last week reversed its Budget plan to change the teacher-student ratio.

The changes were expected to have saved about $170 million over four years and would have been a trade-off for improvement in quality.

But scrapping the planned investment in teacher professional development is only saving $60 million.

Finance Minister Bill English concedes extra cuts were included in the $170 million figure but does not believe the public were misled.

The Government now needs to find another $114 million in cuts over the next four years which it says will come from Vote Education.

It says it will not cut anything in education that is working.

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