The school donations scheme has its biggest membership yet. Ministry of Education data shows 1,877 schools and kura opted in for 2026, sharing $86.2 million at $165.95 per student. That’s up from 1,865 schools in 2025 and 1,676 in 2021, the earliest year in the Ministry’s published lists on its Education Counts site.
The 2026 payments covered 519,192 students. For 2027 the per-student rate rises to $169.27, according to the Ministry’s operational funding rates. Both rates are GST exclusive.
For boards still weighing it up, the deal is simple to state and harder to price. The school takes the per-student payment, and in return it stops asking families for donations, with one exception for overnight camps.
Who can join
State and state-integrated schools and kura with an Equity Index (EQI) number of 432 or higher can opt in. The EQI replaced deciles in January 2023.
The EQI is the Ministry’s indicator of which schools face greater socio-economic barriers to student achievement. A school can look up its own number on Education Counts.
When the scheme launched, it paid $150 per student to decile 1 to 7 schools. The EQI cut-off now does that job.
A school that joined earlier can stay in if its EQI later drops below 432, as long as the board opts in every year. Miss one year and the school can’t come back until its EQI is 432 or higher again.
The decision covers the whole school. A board can’t opt in for some year levels and leave others out. Private schools aren’t eligible.
Primary schools make up most of the membership. The 2026 list has 807 full primary and 543 contributing schools, along with 89 intermediates, 220 secondary schools, 143 composite schools and 35 specialist schools.
What a board gives up
Once it’s in, a board can’t seek donations from parents and whānau for anything except curriculum-related overnight camps. The Ministry defines a camp as any curriculum activity where students are expected to stay overnight, such as an EOTC camp, a multi-day tramp or a senior leadership camp. Even then, payment can’t be compelled, and no student can be kept off a curriculum camp because their family didn’t pay.
Day trips are where boards feel the change. A school outside the scheme can ask for a general donation, or for a specific one towards a museum visit or a field trip. A school inside it can ask for neither.
Plenty stays the same. Schools in the scheme can still run fairs and raffles, and still charge for optional goods and services families have agreed to buy, such as sports team trips or take-home items from technology classes. Parents can still give a donation if they want to, the board just can’t ask.
Parent-teacher associations and the proprietors of state-integrated schools are separate legal entities, so they can still ask for donations. Attendance dues at state-integrated schools aren’t affected.
The money arrives as a lump sum in the January operational funding instalment, based on the previous July roll. If the March roll is higher, a top-up comes in April.
International and adult students aren’t funded. The funding isn’t tagged, so the board decides how to spend it, and it’s accountable for that spending like any other public money.
The Ministry can recover funding from a board that keeps asking for donations while in the scheme. It can also withdraw the school or bar it from joining in future years.
Doing the sums for 2027
The Ministry’s own description of the scheme is that it’s “designed to ease the pressure and expectations put on households by donation payments”. Whether it also helps the budget depends on what a school’s families actually pay now.
At the 2027 rate, a school with 300 funded students would receive about $50,780. A school weighing up the scheme can compare that against its donation income over recent years, excluding camp donations, which it could keep asking for. Other gaps matter too, such as specific donations for day trips.
The payment is fixed and lands in term one. Donation income has to be forecast, and it can fall short. A board that collects well above $169 per enrolled student may come out behind, while one that collects well below it gains.
Eligible schools usually opt in for the following year through the July roll return. A school that missed it can still use the Ministry’s late opt-in form, which closes in late November each year. Teen parent units, activity centres and other attached units must use the late form.
Either way, the board has to record its decision in its minutes, and the Ministry encourages boards to consult their community first.
Boards with questions can contact the Ministry’s resourcing team at resourcing@education.govt.nz or (04) 463 8383.
