Skip to main content
Ministry of Education New Zealand

What relief teacher funding is for

We make an annual payment to your school to contribute to relief teacher costs. No other staffing positions are included in the relief teacher funding calculation. Resource teachers, supernumerary teachers, and discretionary teachers are not included.

Your school board is responsible for managing any surpluses or deficits from year to year. We recommend you set aside an amount for relief teacher expenses in your annual budget.

Remember to consider:

  • your collective agreement obligations
  • your previous relief teacher funding needs
  • any known demands on your budget, such as professional development or staff absences.

You can look up your school's entitlement in Pourato.

How we calculate relief teacher funding

We use your school type and the number of teaching positions in your school to calculate your relief teacher funding rate. We multiply the rate for your school type by the number of teaching positions.

The number of teaching positions eligible for relief teacher funding are the greater of your provisional staffing or confirmed staffing plus any Ongoing Resourcing Scheme staffing. This includes related management staff plus attached units.

Funding adjustments

We adjust funding when there is a change to base salary rates for teachers, for example if a collective agreement changes.

We automatically adjust funding for the whole year as a school’s staffing entitlement and special education staffing change.

When teachers are off work for a long time

We provide additional relief teacher funding when certain conditions are met.