Ministry funding deciles

Schools no longer use deciles to determine equity funding. Funding is determined by the Equity Index.

The Equity Index has been in place since January 2023.

The Equity Index – Ministry of Education(external link)

What is a funding decile?

Funding deciles are ratings used by the Ministry of Education to determine some of the funding a school or kura gets.

  • Schools each have a decile rating from 1 to 10.
  • Roughly 10% of schools are in each decile rating – 10% have a decile 1 rating, 10 have decile 2 rating and so on.
  • The lower a school’s decile rating, the more funding it gets.

The higher funding for lower decile schools is for extra resources to support their students’ learning needs.

What does the decile rating measure?

A school’s decile measures the extent to which the school’s students live in low socio-economic or poorer communities.

Decile 1 schools are the 10% of schools with the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic communities. Decile 10 schools are the 10% of schools with the lowest proportion of students from these communities.

However, a decile doesn't indicate the overall socio-economic mix of the students at a school.

It is important to understand that decile ratings and the Equity Index which took effect in 2023 are for funding purposes only — they are not an indication of the performance or quality of education delivered at a school or kura.

How are decile ratings worked out?

Decile ratings are based on Census data for households with school-aged children in each school’s catchment area. The data uses household measures such as income, parents on a benefit, occupation, education, and household crowding. 

Decile ratings are recalculated every 5 years after each Census.

School deciles – Ministry of Education(external link)

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