FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND – The Naenae College Union is calling out the Naenae College Board for failing to meet its basic legal obligation to publish the school’s 2024 Annual Report on its website – a clear breach of the Education and Training Act 2020 and a slap in the face to whānau, students, staff, and taxpayers who fund the school.
Under section 134 of the Education and Training Act 2020, every school board must prepare an annual report each year, including audited financial statements. Under section 136, that report must be made available to the public on an internet site maintained by or on behalf of the board.
Despite this, as of today the most recent annual report publicly available on Naenae College’s website is for 2023, with no 2024 Annual Report accessible to parents, whānau, or the wider community.
Naenae College Union spokesperson said:
“The law is crystal clear: once the annual report is done, the Board has to put it online where the public can see it. If Naenae College’s Board can’t even manage that, what confidence can our community have in how it’s managing millions of dollars of public money?”
The Union says the failure to publish the 2024 report is not a minor paperwork issue but a breach of public accountability.
“Annual reports are one of the few tools ordinary parents and community members have to see how money is being spent, what priorities the Board has, and whether it’s delivering on its own strategic plan. When that report quietly goes missing, people are entitled to ask: what are they hiding?”
The Ministry of Education’s own guidance makes it clear that boards must submit their annual reports and then publish them online for their communities. Not doing so puts Naenae College’s Board out of step with both the law and with other schools that take transparency seriously.
The Union is calling for three immediate actions:
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Immediate publication, the Naenae College Board must immediately upload the full 2024 Annual Report, including audited financial statements, to the “Annual Report” section of the school website, and clearly notify the community that it is now available.
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Public explanation, the Board should issue a public explanation for the delay, including: When the 2024 Annual Report was completed and submitted; Why it was not made publicly available online as required by section 136; and What steps it will take to ensure statutory reporting deadlines are met in future.
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Stronger monitoring by the Ministry, the Ministry of Education should actively monitor which schools are failing to publish their annual reports online, and directly intervene with boards that are repeatedly non-compliant.
“Naenae students and their whānau deserve a Board that treats legal obligations as more than a suggestion. If the Board expects students to meet deadlines and follow the rules, it should hold itself to at least the same standard.”
Until Naenae College’s 2024 Annual Report is online and easily accessible, the Naenae College Union will continue to highlight this breach of transparency and push for proper accountability under the Education and Training Act.
ENDS