Donation dilemma for mid-decile schools

Ditch controversial school "donations", win over parents, but lose money for schools and students. That's the dilemma facing many principals assessing the value of the government's scheme for abolishing donations in schools in deciles one through seven. Principals say schools in the mid-deciles and especially around decile 7 will lose money if they opt in, but they are worried what parents will think if they don't sign up to it. The scheme pays $150 per student to schools that stop asking parents for donations. Richard Dykes from the Auckland Secondary Principals Association told RNZ's education correspondent, John Gerritsen, it is good for low-decile, but not for many mid-decile, schools. For some it will be a shortfall of hundreds of thousands of dollars.