Gerry Brownlee National Education Spokesperson
23 August 2001
Schools the losers in SOE profits
National's Education spokesperson Gerry Brownlee says schools must be given certainty over funding increases to
compensate for hefty power bills.
"The last thing we want is schools forced to close to save power. Mr Mallard says he's 'looking into it' and that there
may be a 'funding increase' for schools with power bills more than 10% over budget. That's not good enough.
"Schools need certainty about exactly how much extra funding they will get. Once they've consumed the power it's too
late to take drastic measures to save it.
"It's ridiculous that state owned generators are making obscene profits from the power crisis while schools are using up
valuable funds to pay hefty power bills from those companies.
"We've already seen a case of school pupils writing letters to businesses begging for money to buy textbooks. The
closure of schools to save power will only hasten our demise to third world status," Mr Brownlee said.
Ends