Early last week, the Ministry of Education cut enriching local curriculum (ELC) funding to the education programmes at Otago Museum, the Otago Ecosanctuary and the Otago Peninsula Trust.
It led the museum to announce children would have to pay up to $10 to access the programmes, and primary school principals were furious because they could not afford it and it would leave a "significant void" in their pupils’ learning.
Late last week, the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies offered $7000 to keep Otago Museum’s education programmes going for up to 700 pupils.
But it was far from enough to cover the 15,612 pupils who participated in the museum’s programmes annually.
The Otago Ecosanctuary and the Otago Peninsula Trust were also still looking for alternative funding.
"These programmes are well loved by students and teachers alike, and our community losing access to them would be a tragedy," Mr Hawkins said.
"I’ve been in contact with all of the existing providers locally.
"They’re at different stages in the application process, which means some have more certainty than others about next year.
"I think we’re better off trying to tackle this collectively as a city, rather than expecting individual operations to go out and find their own solutions."
Mr Hawkins said he would meet the Otago Community Trust this week to look at how the organisations might approach the issue, together.
"I’m also meeting with the Ministry of Education to get a better understanding of how this happened.
"In particular, I’m interested in how the outcome of applications is still unknown in some cases, a fortnight before the new financial year.
"I will be seeking the support of council at our next meeting, to play our part in making sure Dunedin kids continue to have access to these opportunities."
Adding insult to injury, the museum, ecosanctuary and peninsula trust have been told they will have to wait another week to learn why they were not successful in this year’s funding round.
Ministry of Education pathways and progress associate leader Pauline Cleaver said ELC funding was a new service.
"The criteria used for awarding ELC funding differs from the criteria used for the previous service - [known as] learning experiences outside of the classroom.
"Some providers that were successful in being awarded learning-experiences-outside-of-the-classroom funding were unsuccessful in the ELC process, and several new providers, not previously supported by learning experiences outside of the classroom, have been successful in gaining ELC funding."
Ms Cleaver said all successful and unsuccessful providers were notified on June 2 and 3.
"We are currently preparing full written debriefs for all unsuccessful providers.
"These debriefs will be finalised and sent to providers, as soon as possible, and by mid-July at the latest.
"After that time, we will begin face to face, or online, follow-up meetings, as requested by providers."
