School decile system confirmed for abolition, but school-zone house prices and ‘white flight’ will be hard to change!

‘New Zealand Education Minister Chris Hipkins pledged yesterday that the current decile rating system for primary and secondary schools would be replaced by another system.’ 

 

Schools in the decile system have a maximum rating of 10 and a minimum of 1. Decile ratings refer to household income levels in the school zone, rather than academic achievement. Schools with higher decile ratings do, however, tend to have better overall results. After all, parents there have more resources to invest in their children’s education.

 

New Zealand originally introduced the decile system to determine education funding according to an area’s economic circumstances. Wealthier areas would receive smaller subsidies, while the government would provide more support to poorer areas.

 

However, the school decile system produced an unintended consequence: ‘white flight’! 

 

Put simply, white flight is the movement of white middle-class families into areas with higher-rated schools to secure a good education for their children. As a result, low-decile schools have fewer and fewer white students, leaving students of colour from lower-income families. The term originated in the United States, but New Zealand has not escaped the phenomenon.

 

The picture tells the story. The photograph above shows the Auckland Girls’ Grammar School (AGGS) basketball team. Located in Freemans Bay, beside Auckland’s CBD, the school has a decile rating of 3. The students’ skin colours and ethnic makeup are clear to see!

{Ad}

 

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the decile rating system was a ‘blunt instrument’ and it was time to replace it. He said the continuing departure of white families from low-decile school zones had become a feature of New Zealand education since the system was introduced in 1989.

 

He will submit a paper to Cabinet in the coming months detailing a replacement for the decile system.

 

Retiring principal Ian Hastie

  

Retiring principal Ian Hastie said parents did not understand the decile system and mistakenly believed that schools with low ratings also offered a lower standard of education.

 

He believes parents will be more inclined to choose local schools once decile ratings are abolished.

 

Metro magazine’s 2018 academic rankings show that a small number of schools rated decile 4–5 did outperform decile 10 schools. However, it is indisputable that high-decile schools outperform low-decile schools overall. The top-performing school is a private school. With the highest fees, it does not need government funding and therefore sits outside the decile system.

 

First, look at university progression rates for the top 10 schools

 

 

Private schools dominate, taking 9 places in the top 10!

 

Now look at progression rates for schools ranked 11–20 

 

 

As social class divisions become entrenched, education is increasingly a game of wealth. Without addressing those entrenched divisions, replacing the decile system may simply change the packaging while leaving the substance untouched. Parents will certainly compete to send their children to schools with strong results and plentiful resources.

 

Viewed this way, white flight will not change, and neither will school-zone house prices!