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Te Uki Ou Primary School Finance

Hi our names are Arii and Josh. We interviewed Mike Carr on Te Uki Ou finance.
In the early years we had to fundraise for everything, whereas now with some government funding we are able to meet our costs. When we weren’t getting government funding, parents had to mow lawns and do stock take in town. Also we didn’t have a Maori teacher or learning support staff.

Last year the government gave us $291,000 and that’s the most money we’ve had in a year. The school has managed to fundraise a huge amount of money through monster raffles. Our best ever raffle raised $90,000 over 10 weeks and was a lot of work. Last year we raised just over $100,000 through a raffle and other fundraisers. We are very lucky to have been given $140,000 from NZ Aid this year as well. We are using this money to rebuild the administration building and move the library. Previously we had already fundraised $232,000 for Rooms 4, 5 and 6.

Apart from the buildings the teachers salaries are the biggest expense. Last year we spent $405,000. In the future we will have to keep a close eye on continuing to monitor finances. Our expenses need to be controlled the same way as a household.