Area school principals vote to accept Ministry of Education pay and conditions offer

Principals in area schools, who are jointly represented by NZEI Te Riu Roa and PPTA Te Wehengarua, have voted to accept the Governments latest offer around pay and work conditions.

They were part of the nationwide strike action in May  which was the largest education strike in New Zealand’s history.

The announcement means all teachers and principals in the compulsory schooling sector have now ratified their collective agreements.

In a significant part of the settlement, principals at the 136 area schools in New Zealand will get access to a new category of sabbatical leave, 'Te Rau Titoki', which is designed to give principals time to focus on undertaking community responsibilities outside of leading their school that are integral to their principal role.

The settlement also includes the merging of U1 and U2 rates of pay which will give U1 principals an increase in the roll-based component of their remuneration of 12.5 per cent. It began on August 20.

The U-grades for principal renumeration is determined by the size of the school's roll.

For U2-U16 principals, their roll-based remuneration would increase by three per cent. In addition to this the staffing-based component (TTS) will increase by three per cent.

For the remainder of the term, an increase of three per cent in 2020 and a further increase of three per cent in 2021 would be applied to roll-based component and to the staffing-based component (TTS).

They will also get an increase to the base rate of the Area School Principals’ Payment and a lump sum payment of $500 for union members.

In 2022 the overall number of sabbaticals will increase from 10 to 13 and area school principals will be included as part of the accord between NZEI Te Riu Roa, PPTA Te Wehengarua and the Ministry of Education.

The term will be three years from September 6, 2019 to September 5, 2022.