A Northland principal says the Government's inventing a bureaucracy in its crackdown on school truancy. 

This year's Budget has $140 million for getting kids back in school - with a new case management system and better data monitoring.

Horahora school principal Pat Newman says schools should be in charge of what happens with the funding. 

"We don't need Big Brother sitting over us from Wellington, giving directives and telling us how to do the job. We're actually more skilled in it."

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