An Education Department trip to New Zealand to recruit one education officer cost taxpayers nearly $20,000, it was revealed on Friday.

And Government has paid Warwick Academy $350,000 as a result of its departure from the public education system, the House of Assembly was told.

Education Minister Jerome Dill said two senior Department of Education officials and the Director of Personnel Services flew to New Zealand on $6,120 air tickets in order to hire one education officer for the reading recovery programme.

Mr. Dill, responding to questions tabled in the House of Assembly by Shadow Education Minister Ms Jennifer Smith, said the education officer for student services and Permanent Secretary Dr. Marion Robinson made up the rest of the group.

He said the airfares cost a total of $18,360 overall and each officer was given the normal subsistence rate allowed for senior officers of $150 per day for five days which works out to $1,350. The final cost for the trip was $19,710.

The primary purpose of the trip was to recruit an education officer to assume responsibility for introducing the Reading Recovery programme which was developed and copyrighted in New Zealand.

A secondary purpose, he said, was to investigate the potential for sending a Bermudian to New Zealand to undertake the training stipulated by the programme developers for any person wishing to train teachers to use the programme.

Six applicants were considered but two withdrew at the last moment. Four were interviewed and one has been offered an appointment, he said.

In response to another question from Ms Smith, Mr. Dill explained that Government paid the Board of Governors at Warwick Academy $350,000 as compensation for allowing the buildings to degenerate while they were in its care.

Mr. Dill said Government recognised the claim from the Board of Governors that the school was no longer in the state of repair that it had been at the time that the school became part of the Government system.

After negotiations the Government's claim for repayment was adjusted, he said, to compensate for the necessary repairs, which totalled $350,000.