News In Brief

$41 million for school buildings

Eighty-one schools around the country will get new or expanded buildings through the first allocation of property funding to schools under the government’s recently announced infrastructure package, education minister Anne Tolley has announced.

“These schools now have the go-ahead to start work to redress their lack of space or need for new buildings,” Mrs Tolley said.

“Seventy-four schools will receive $30 million to extend existing buildings, and seven schools will receive $11 million to replace buildings that are no longer economically viable to maintain.

Commissioner appointed to Otepopo School

Anne Tolley has announced that she had dissolved the board of trustees of Otepopo School in North Otago and directed the secretary of education to appoint a commissioner to replace the board.

“My decision follows an ERO report finding that important governance and management issues at the school have not been addressed. This means the board is no longer able to govern effectively, and there is a significant risk to school operation and student education performance,” she said.

Otepopo is a decile 7 state co-educational primary school. Local families, including some board members, said they were sending their children to other schools because it was not meeting their needs, and there were on-going tensions within the community about the school that were impacting on personal relationships.

Otepopo’s roll had declined from 41 in 2004 to 13 this year.

Small increase in February Food Price Index

Food prices increased 0.2 per cent in the February 2009 month, Statistics NZ has said. The most significant contribution to the increase came from the non-alcoholic beverages subgroup (up 1.7 per cent), which was driven by higher prices for soft drinks (up 2.7 per cent).

Other subgroups that made upward contributions were meat, poultry and fish (up 0.8 per cent), restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food (up 0.5 per cent), and grocery food (up 0.3 per cent).

The only subgroup to record a downward contribution in the February 2009 month was fruit and vegetables (down 2.6 per cent), which was driven by lower prices for apples (down 27.4 per cent).

Growth in labour productivity subdued since 2000

Labour productivity grew 2.0 per cent in the March 2008 year, Statistics NZ has reported. From 2000 to 2008, there has been subdued growth in labour productivity, averaging 1.3 per cent annually.