Education Minister Erica Stanford said the wider investment in education is the most significant investment in learning support in a generation. Photo: 123RF
Māori education has seen a boost with Budget 2025, while other new targeted funding for Māori initiatives remains tight.
Operational funding of $54 million and another $50 million in capital funding has been allocated to increase Māori learner success by investing in curriculum support and teacher development. The initiatives include:
- Training and support for up to 51,000 teachers in Year 0-13 schools to learn te reo Māori and tikanga.
- A Virtual Learning Network for online STEM education to more than 5500 Year 9-13 students in Kura Kaupapa and Maori Medium education.
- Seven new curriculum advisors to help teachers in using the redesigned Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.
- New curriculum resources in te reo matatini and STEM for around 5000 senior secondary students.
- Developing a new Māori Studies subject area for The New Zealand Curriculum, for Year 11-13 English medium schools.
The disestablishment of the Wharekura Expert Teachers programme, disestablishing Resource Teachers and shifting unallocated funds from the Maori Language Funding to Support Provision and Growth initiative and reprioritising under-spent funding from Kaupapa Māori and Māori Medium Education will save the government around $72 million over four years.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the wider investment in education is the most significant investment in learning support in a generation.
"Backed by a social investment lens, this is a seismic shift in how we support learning needs in New Zealand. We're deliberately prioritising early intervention, investing in what works and directly tackling long-standing inequities in the system."
The Māori Women's Welfare League will get a funding boost and follows the announcement the Māori Wardens would also see an increase of around $1.5 million per year.
Together, they will receive an increased operating budget of just over $13 million over four years.
Māori housing initiatives administered by Te Puni Kokiri, including the Whai Kainga Whai Oranga, have been cut back and the money has been given to the government's new Flexible Housing fund, which looks to build more social housing and subsidise affordable rentals.
Te Puni Kokiri will retain $17.5 million per annum housing funding while other Māori housing supports will be delivered by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
The government is also ending discretionary payments associated with Treaty Settlements, however this will not affect existing contractual commitments. It will save just under $3 million over four years.
The Climate Resilience for Māori fund has been cut by 33 percent, down to an average of $2.6 million operating per annum remaining in this fund.
The now scrapped Aotearoa Reorua (Bilingual Towns and Cities) Programme will see $1.6 million returned, however existing contracts will not be affected.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
