Questions over Government’s $131m literacy and maths boost
Friday, 22 May 2026
The Government’s announcement that $131 million will be channelled into literacy and maths has been met with a mixed response, and questions over where the money will come from.
Aotearoa Educators Collective spokesperson LIam Rutherford said the announcement was “puzzling” and he had questions about where the funding had come from.
Earlier this week, Education Minister Erica Stanford said the package was funded through “a mixture” of new money and reprioritised spending. She would not confirm the breakdown.
'You'll need to wait for the Budget, but there is significant new money in the Budget as well as reprioritisations as you've seen from me every single year,' she said in her announcement.
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Rutherford called the wording “cagey”. He suspected it was funds from last year’s Budget - earmarked for projects that had not been delivered.
“Last year they made a stack of announcements in the Budget …, and they got plaudits for spending money on particular areas in education.”
But Rutherford said some had not trickled down to the classroom - like the $646m built into 2025’s budget for learning support.
“We quite often hear [Stanford] talking about her learning support budget but the reality is, things just aren't shifting on the ground.”
A Ministry of Education spokesperson reiterated Stanford’s comments.
“Many details of Budget 2026, including how initiatives are funded, remain confidential until the Budget is formally delivered on May 28.“
Where will the money go?
The Government says the $131m investment will be spent over four years.
Maths - $29.7m: Trialling maths hubs, maths equipment for years 0-8, a new times table and division check, 36 fulltime teachers for maths support, expansion of a maths programme.
Writing - $38.7m: writing workbooks for years 4 and 5; a digital writing tool for years 6 to 8.
Literacy - $19.4m: Structured literacy and te reo matatini decodables for older readers; literacy checks for end of year 2s, a new effective literacy programme for years 0 to 10.
Professional development: An investment of $43.5 million to provide professional learning and development for smarter data use by school and kura leaders, and high-impact explicit teaching practices that deepen students’ learning.
Rutherford picked out a couple of positives: like the maths hubs, which could be a way of sharing good practice in a system that historically had not created opportunities to do so.
“Anything that is going to create space for the better sharing of practice across teachers, I think is well worth investing in.”
However, other spending showed a disconnect between the ministry and schools.
“It's just a misunderstanding of what teachers and schools actually need. Teachers being given more workbooks that tell us the right order to teach maths is not what we need.
“We need people on the ground. I don't bump into any teacher out there, that will say, you know, what we're really missing is more workbooks.”
“You won't go past a staffroom in this country that won't talk about what we actually need is more people on the ground, lower class sizes and more teacher aides.
“That’s what will make a real difference, and will actually free teachers up to sharpen their craft.”
It also did a disservice to students, he said.
“This government's having a real kind of heyday around trying to connect education to what parents went through. But that was during a time where people had much different challenges to the ones that our young people are going to be facing.”