Wanganui Collegiate is thinking about becoming a state integrated school. It has been a private Church of England high school for 150 years. Most of that time, it was a boarding school for boys only. Recently it became a co-ed school, open to girls as well as boys. Now the school is having financial problems. Families are finding it harder to pay for school fees.

In 1975, many Catholic schools became state integrated schools because they could no longer pay for school buildings and teachers’ salaries. Other church schools have also become state integrated schools. The government pays the teachers and looks after the buildings. State integrated schools also charge some fees. They are allowed to keep their special character which usually means that they teach some religious education. They also have to teach the same subjects as public schools.

At the moment, there are 101 private schools in New Zealand. They get about 25% of their money from the government but the rest comes from parents. Only about 4% of New Zealand children attend private schools. About 10% of New Zealand children attend state integrated schools and the other 86% attend public schools.

The Minister of Education, Anne Tolley, said that there is no extra money for education. If any private schools become integrated, this means less money for public schools.