Responsibilities
The lead school, kura board is responsible for the RTLB funds on behalf of all the cluster’s schools, kura.
The Crown Entities Act 2004, subpart 3, means that Ministry funding must be paid into the bank account of the RTLB Lead School as the Board of Trustees of each school is a Crown entity in its own right, not into the account of the RTLB cluster. This applies to operational grants, IYT programme delivery expenses and study grant travel contributions.
The board is responsible for:
- allocating the RTLB staffing resource and RTLB funds equitably across cluster schools based on student and cluster school need, not on a pro-rata basis
- reporting at least two times a year to cluster schools, kura on the use of cluster funds and the allocation of the RTLB staffing resource
- budgeting, expenditure, and accounting; ensuring funds received on behalf of the cluster are clearly identified separately in the lead school’s, kura financial accounts
- submitting an annual report of the cluster's financial position to the Ministry
- including an audit of RTLB cluster funds in the regular audit of the board’s accounts
- returning all surplus funds to the Ministry after the period of the Funding Agreement unless the Ministry consents in writing to surplus funds being used by the Board to support the RTLB service.
Assets purchased by the RTLB should be recorded in the asset register of the lead school and identified as RTLB resources for their exclusive use.
Lead schools must use the Ministry financial reporting template when preparing the cluster’s annual financial statement.
Managing school finances
Resources, templates, and financial guidance to support the governance of school finances and financial reporting
You can download a PDF of Financial Information for Schools Handbook and Model financial policies.
Content last updated: March 2018