State-integrated school

The secular-education requirement arose from a deadlock between secularist, Catholic, and Protestant MPs over how much and what type of religious influence (if any) should be included in state schools.

Ultimately, MPs opted for the safest route by making state education secular.

As a result, both Catholic and Protestant churches continued to organise and expand their own private school systems.

In addition, private schools had to keep pace with the drive for higher-quality facilities and smaller class sizes in the state sector, while dealing with a teacher shortage and the increasing cost of land, equipment and salaries.

[4] In November 1972, the Labour Party was elected to government, and Prime Minister Norman Kirk immediately sought a solution to the Catholic school funding crisis.

The special characters of the remaining 93 schools include Anglican, Presbyterian, non-denominational Christian, Montessori and Waldorf (Steiner).

[8] With several major exceptions relating to their special characters and their proprietors, state-integrated schools are required to operate like their non-integrated counterparts.

Proprietors cannot charge attendance dues for more than the amount set for their school and published in The New Zealand Gazette.

[15] Apart from attendance dues, state-integrated schools like other state schools are not allowed to charge fees to domestic students[16] (i.e. New Zealand citizens, permanent residents and temporary residents – the latter includes all Australian citizens[17]), but commonly request voluntary donations to top-up funding from the government and attendance dues.