CO129-581-6 Government grants to vernacular schools 30-1-1939 - 6-2-1940 — Page 8

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8. We claim very emphatically that there is no justification at all at the present time for introducing a system which, by its peculiar method of calculation, necessitates a control by the Director of Education in certain matters of detail which is not necessary under the present Grant in Aid system.

9. We have in the past been receiving a genuine Grant in Aid in the sense that a capitation grant is given on the Inspector's Annual Report. The School Council is thereafter responsible for carrying out the educational requirements of the Director.

10. This has meant that approval given on educational matters has made no difference to the Government budget, as this has depended

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(a) on the average attendance of the school; (b) on the Inspector's Report.

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We shall be glad to be informed of the statutory duties and powers of the Director of Education. We assume that these are limited to securing the efficiency of all schools and fairness to all classes in use of taxpayers' money.

12. We agree that a system of grant based on income rather than expenditure is unsatisfactory, but we contend that the proposal contained in paragraph 29 for a recurrent grant is fundamentally opposed to the principle of a Grant in Aid. It means that matters referred to the Director under the Grant Code for his decision on educational ground may affect the "allowed expenditure" and consequently the grant paid by Government.

13. Though we have been assured of a spirit of cordial co- operation in the interests of the schools, as Trustees we feel that the Report establishes quite a new relationship with the Government in which details of expenditure, of dealing with teachers, and other matters are settled virtually by the Director's signature.

14. You will notice that the proposal of the Heads of Grant in Aid schools which we wish to endorse is a block grant on a three-year basis. On this system it is possible for the Director and the Government to exercise a general control over expenditure: to say, for example, that, in view of the margin on the school's accounts for the previous three years or for other reasons, the grant during a succeeding triennium will be less or more as the case may be. This gives control of the general grant given to the school to the Director and to the Government where it belongs. It leaves details of expenditure to the School Council, where again the control of details belongs.

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