A Tauranga school is fearful of losing up to 225 teaching hours following a $4500 cut in funding if it doesn't appeal the decile rating process.

Kaka Street Special School and Pukehina Primary are two Bay of Plenty schools considering appealing the results of the nationwide ratings released yesterday.

Kaka Street Special School principal Barrie Wickens. Photo: File.

The system determines how much money is available to be spent at every state and state-integrated school in the country. The last time they were reviewed was after the Census in 2006.

Kaka Street Special School principal Barrie Wickens says the school has risen three spots from 4J to 5M in the latest review - not a true reflection of the variety of students the school encapsulates.

He says: 'I'm a bit aggrieved we are losing $4500 per year next July based on the census data when I have an Avenues school that has 29 students, but I have another 44 students in several other schools and they all range in decile.

'How can that be a fair reconciliation?”

Kaka Street Special School is a school for students aged 5-to-21 years with a base school in Tauranga along with satellite classes based at Te Puke Primary School, Merivale Primary School, Brookfield Primary and Tauranga Intermediate School.

Of the four satellite areas, Tauranga Intermediate is decile five while Merivale ASchool is decile one – seeing a range of $905 and $115 in funding per student.

Barrie says the direct loss from a $4500 cut in funding is about 225 teacher-aid hours, something the school critically needs.

He says the Board of Trustees chairman will discuss the option of appealing the decision when the whole board meet early next month.

'I can take the hit of $4500, but that's not the point,” he adds.

Pukehina School principal Roger Reid says the school is already preparing to appeal the latest changes which sees a decile rise from three to five.

The increase means the small rural school, with a roll of 23 students, will have its student funding cut from $220 to $115.76 a year.

Roger says: 'Eventually we will have to pay for our Duffy Books, we will lose hundreds of dollars in funding for each child and support from Kids Can.

'We struggle, as a school our budget is that tight. We spend all sorts of time and effort to raise money for these things and now it's just another kick in the bum as they are taking away the funding we are actually relying on.”

A community meeting last night gave Roger the green light to go ahead with the appeal after believing the Ministry of Education got its ranking wrong and the system is 'unfair”.

He says an appeal is a 'long drawn out process” but the new rating isn't a true reflection of the area with the majority of the school's parents not owning their own home.

He says: 'I think we have two parents that have a steady job while the rest are on some form of support or income. They don't have tertiary education or the ability to earn big money.”

Roger says these changes heap extra pressure on the school's already tight budget and ongoing struggle to secure funding.

'How can we support kids learning if we are running out of money and having to find money all the time?” he asks.

Nationwide, a total of 800 schools have moved to a lower decile rating, while 784 schools have moved up. For another 822 schools, there has been no change.