Cash-strapped deaf school axes jobs

Twenty-three of the 39 residential care staff at van Asch College were made redundant yesterday as a result of Government funding cuts last year.

A 47 per cent cut to the college’s operating grant put the special residential school for the deaf in the position of not being able to afford to keep its non-teaching staff, but not having the money to make them redundant.

The Ministry of Education has now offered to pay $400,000 towards the $1.1 million minimum cost of the redundancies, leaving the college to find $700,000 from its own resources.

The chairwoman of the college’s board of trustees, Mrs Glenys Lintott, said it had only about $50,000 in reserves, leaving a significant shortfall.

“The Ministry of Education has stated it will monitor the situation because it does not wish the school to be insolvent. However, it is not prepared to pay the shortfall.”

She said the ministry had suggested the board sell assets to cover the shortfall, but most of the assets were computers and technical equipment essential in the teaching of deaf children, which the board would later have to replace.

“The board believes the only asset that could be sold is land. However, the ministry has stated that any money received from the sale of land would have to be returned to the ministry rather than remain with van Asch.”

In the latest move the residential section of the college will be restructured, changing from hostel care to family-type care by dividing hostels.

The five residential hostels could be split into family homes, and the housemothers who became family “parents” would be paid an allowance on a per-child basis.

Mrs Lintott said the restructuring would not be viable in the long term unless the Government picked up the shortfall, or allowed the college to sell land.

Alternative restructuring proposals would have resulted in an annual saving of $400,000.

Among the redundancies are kitchen staff, a clerical worker, a groundsman, and a hearing aid technician.

Mrs Lintott said that while the board had been able to calculate the financial costs of restructuring, it was unable to measure the human cost.

“A lot of children are very stressed out, and the parents are very concerned. It’s been a really horrible day.

“The board has been put in a position by forces outside of its control. It is having to face the harsh reality of funding cuts, and deeply regrets the necessity to declare 23 positions surplus,” Mrs Lintott said.

Van Asch lost $1.4 million from its operating grant last year, which the Government said would be used to provide extra services for special education discretionary resources in schools around the country. Canterbury special schools were to share $660,000.

The college has spent about $80,000 of its reserves since January on staff wages and operating costs and has been running a “zero budget.”

Two other Christchurch special residential schools are also understood to be struggling financially after last year’s funding cuts.

The McKenzie Residential School had its funding reduced from $1.4 million to $816,652. Its principal, Mr Greg Healy, said last week the school’s board was considering several options to allow it to work within its allocation.

The Hogben School lost almost $800,000 in the cuts and was now “doing what we have to do,” the principal, Mr Tom Reilly, said.