Equity funding
*Please note - services chartered under the Education (Early Childhood Centres) Regulations 1998 are now deemed to be licensed.
Equity Funding targets additional funding to licensed early childhood education services.
Key Objectives
The objectives of equity funding are to:
- Reduce educational disparities between different groups in New Zealand communities;
- Reduce barriers to participation faced by those groups that are underrepresented in early childhood services; and
- Support early childhood education services in raising their level of educational achievement.
Eligible Services
From 1 July 2011 all licensed early childhood education services that meet certain criteria are eligible to receive equity funding.
Prior to 1 July 2011 only licensed community-based early childhood education services are eligible.
Components of Equity Funding
Equity funding consists of four components. Services may be eligible for funding against one or more (or all) components. The components are:
| Component |
Eligibility confirmed by... |
| Component A: Low Socio-Economic Communities |
Equity Index Value |
| Component B: Special Needs, and Non English Speaking Backgrounds |
Equity Index Value |
| Component C: Language and Culture other than English (including Sign-Language) |
EC15 Attestation Form |
| Component D: Isolation |
Isolation Index Value |
Services with no Equity Index
If you are a private ECE service that might become eligible for equity funding after 1 July 2011 the Ministry will be sending a service application pack to ascertain the addresses of children who attend your services to assign an equity index rating. The Ministry will advise services of their equity index rating and any resulting Equity Funding entitlement. Further information on this process is available on the education counts website.
Private ECE services that open between 20 May and 1 July 2011 will be sent a service application pack or can contact the Contact Centre (Resourcing Division), Ministry of Education, ph 04 463 8383, email resourcing@minedu.govt.nz [No spam].
Private ECE services that open after 1 July 2011 should follow the new service process below.
If you are a new service, you will be supplied with a Children's Address Collection pack once you have been open for at least six months. The addresses of children attending your service will be used to calculate your Equity Index.
If you are a service that has previously chosen not to participate in the Equity Index process and would now like to, you will need to contact the Ministry of Education so that an Information Collection pack can be sent to you. Contact details are below.
Equity Index Review Process
Services with an Equity Index of 2, 3, 4, or 5+ are eligible to apply for a review of their Equity Index if they are able to provide evidence that:
The service's community profile has changed significantly since their Equity Index was issued;
OR
The service's individual enrolment profile and the catchment area from which children are drawn from has changed significantly since their Equity Index was issued. The Equity Index review process is available once a year.
Applications for 2011
Applications for the 2011 Equity Index Review process close on Friday 4 November 2011.
Application forms are available from this website as a download or by contacting the Contact Centre (Resourcing Division), Ministry of Education, ph 04 463 8383, email resourcing@minedu.govt.nz [No spam].
In this section