Finance Information
FINANCIAL INFORMATION for 2013
To assist you in interpreting the financial schedule, we offer the following explanation.
Attendance Dues: This is the amount payable to the Proprietors of the school, Bethlehem College Ltd, in terms of Section 36 of the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975. Bethlehem College Ltd is fully owned by the Christian Education Trust (CET). Attendance Dues for integrated schools represents the capital costs of the land and buildings, which are not financed by the government. In our case, the Attendance Dues fund the costs of a lease of the school premises from the CET. These fees are compulsory.
The Special Character Contribution funds the shortfall between the funding provided by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the funding needed to maintain the College’s quality education, with its essential and distinctive Christian character. The amount of the Special Character Contribution is payable to the proprietor and can vary from year to year. This is a voluntary contribution as outlined under section 37 of the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975. While collected by the proprietor (Bethlehem College Ltd) it is donated in full to the Board of Trustees to assist the school’s budget. The amount qualifies for a donations rebate for tax purposes.
The Special Character Contribution for 2013:
§ Primary = $1,400 per annum or $350 per term per family
§ Secondary = $1,600 per annum or $400 per term per family
In 2013 we will continue to utilise the Special Character Contribution in the following areas:
1. Staffing
The funding provided by the Government for staffing is inadequate to meet the total costs incurred in providing a quality education. The Special Character Contribution is utilised in part to address this by funding additional staffing in the following areas:
1.1 Christian Living Staff are engaged on teaching, researching and continuing to develop Christian Living programmes across the College. This is fundamental and integral to the special character ethos of Bethlehem College, and understandably requires additional funding above normal State staffing levels.
1.2. Learning SupportThe Board of Trustees subsidise the costs of extra staffing to enable a suitably qualified team to assist in our Learning Support programmes.
1.3 Additional Subjects/Classes The Board of Trustees are committed to offering a broad range of subject choices for students. Additional staff are employed above our direct MOE Funding entitlement from the Government. Extra staff are required to provide the number of courses that are offered at the senior secondary level. In Primary additional core and specialist teachers are employed to enhance the core programme eg Learning Support, Music, and Maori.
1.4 Pastoral Care and CounsellingBethlehem College provides two trained counsellors and other student support staff to ensure a strong level of student support.
1.5 Administration The Board recognises the importance of ensuring a strong management and administrative support structure, to assist the academic staff and further enhance the effectiveness of the student programme.
2. ICT – Information Communications Technology
The BOT will continue to provide ICT programmes throughout the school. Bethlehem Computer Services (a division of the CET) provides, under contract, the infrastructure, resources and technical support to deliver the ever changing and expanding hardware and associated infrastructure, either in suites, pods or as individual computers.
ICT is a costly component but vital if we are to prepare students to function confidently in tomorrow’s world – the school operates a large “state of the art” network of over 600 computers. Approximately 5% of the total Operating Budget provides for the Information Technology needs of Bethlehem College.
3. Operational Costs
Part of our Special Character Contribution supplements the Governments “Operations Grant” which is widely regarded by schools in New Zealand as being inadequate for the needs of a school, particularly with curriculum demands that are never static and always expanding. The increases to the Operations Grants have not been keeping track with inflation.
With growing compliance costs, as well as increases in the costs of water, electricity, local authority levies etc, the daily costs of operating an institution like Bethlehem College are considerable.
4. Sports, Culture, Music
The Board is committed to lifting the sporting and cultural excellence of our school, and providing additional staffing and resources in the important areas of sport and performing arts.
5. Other Charges
Bus Costs are mostly covered by the MOE which is responsible for providing the daily school service. An additional cost to parents of $25+GST per term continues to cover some services not provided by the Ministry as well as subsidisation of curriculum based trips.
Parents need to be aware that “extras” for sports fees, cultural activities, camps, trips etc can sometimes make up a significant portion of a terms invoice and should plan accordingly.
