Since the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act was passed in 1975, most private schools - of which the majority are religious-based - have teacher salaries paid by the state, although buildings and property costs are the responsibility of the school.

The Post Primary Teachers' Association is calling for the Act to be repealed. According to the NZ Herald, papers to be delivered at the union's annual conference this month state that integrated schools get an advantage at a cost to the taxpayer.

Labour's spokeswoman on disability issues, Lynne Pillay, said that a $35 million budget boost to private schools was giving to the most privileged while $2.5 million was cut from disability support.

Others have complained that the additional $35 million is unfair when night class funding has been slashed, enviro-school funding cut and low-decile state school funding reduced. The Child Poverty Action Group said increasing funding for wealthy private schools at the expense of low-income children is neither effective or fair.

Supporters of private schools point out that the Act was set up to recognise that there is a place for schools of special character in New Zealand. Parents are paying the same taxes towards education as parents of pupils at state schools, but receive funding only for teacher salaries - everything else has to come out of their own pocket.

Defending the schools, Finance Minister Bill English told Parliament "if those schools go broke, those kids will all show up in the public system, where the government funding will be considerably higher - in fact, about three times higher - than it is for the private schools."

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