Equity Index (New Zealand)

Equity Index (EQI) is a way the Ministry of Education uses to calculate equity funding for schools in New Zealand. It replaced the socioeconomic decile system, which was phased out from January 2023.^[1][2]

Background

In September 2019 the Sixth Labour Government announced the decile system would be replaced by a new "Equity Index" which would come into effect as early as 2021.^[3]

In mid-May 2022, the 2022 New Zealand budget allocated $8 million for the capital cost and $293 million for operating costs for the new Equity Index, but no date of introduction was given.^[4]

Implementation

In July 2022, their Equity Index rating numbers were advised to New Zealand (state and state-integrated) schools to be introduced in 2023. The Statistics Department utilised 37 socio-economic factors for each pupil, including both parents' educational levels, imprisonment data and benefit history plus Oranga Tamariki notifications and student transience to calculate a school index number between 344 and 569 for each school, with a national average of 463 and a higher index number meaning more EQI index funding. The New Zealand educational system was claimed to be "one of the world's least equal education systems" (actually 33 out of 38 in the OECD).^[5][6]

Bands and groups

For statistical and analytical purposes, schools are divided into seven bands and then into three groups based on their EQI. The three groups refer to the socioeconomic barriers: "fewer", "moderate", and "more", and are roughly equivalent to "high-decile", "mid-decile", and "low-decile" respectively under former the socioeconomic decile system.^[7][8]

Band	Group	EQI cut scores (2024)	Example schools (2024)[9]
Fewest	Fewer	344 to 402	Rangitoto College (399) Aquinas College (398) Wellington College (380) Columba College (393)
Few		403 to 428	Mount Albert Grammar School (416) Bethlehem College (410) Hutt Valley High School (424) Burnside High School (417)
Below Average	Moderate	429 to 447	Avondale College (440) Hamilton Boys' High School (429) Palmerston North Boys' High School (438) James Hargest College (445)
Average		448 to 469	Pukekohe High School (462) Tauranga Boys' College (454) Feilding High School (469) Rolleston College (449)
Above Average		470 to 494	Massey High School (486) Te Awamutu College (477) Whanganui High School (480) Hagley College (471)
Many	More	495 to 521	Manurewa High School (511) Fraser High School (509) Naenae College (504) Te Aratai College (517)
Most		522 to 569	James Cook High School (532) Fairfield College (527) Porirua College (532) Aurora College (545)

See also

• Child poverty in New Zealand
• Social class in New Zealand
• Socioeconomic decile

References

1. "School deciles". Education in New Zealand. 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2022-10-05.
2. "The Equity Index". Education in New Zealand. 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2022-10-05.
3. "Replacing Deciles with the Equity Index". 24 September 2019. Retrieved 28 Sep 2019.
4. Palmer, Russell (19 May 2022). "Budget 2022 at a glance: What you need to know". Radio New Zealand. Archived from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
5. "Schools learn all-important equity index number to replace outdated deciles". Stuff/Fairfax. 12 July 2022.
6. "How to fix one of the worlds' least equal education systems". Stuff/Fairfax. 2 July 2022.
7. "School Equity Index Bands and Groups". www.educationcounts.govt.nz. March 2024. Retrieved 2024-12-26.
8. "Education Ministry's new method for grouping schools". RNZ. 2024-02-22. Retrieved 2024-12-26.
9. "New Zealand Schools". www.educationcounts.govt.nz. Retrieved 2024-12-26.