Labor set to pass States Grants Bill
By Sally Edsall
The Labor Party has stood in the way of progressive amendments to the controversial States Grants Bill when it was debated in the Senate.
The Bill will deliver huge windfall funding increases to elite schools and continue to encourage the proliferation of small boutique schools and low-fee systems operated by religious denominations.
The Democrats and The Greens moved amendments which would have had the effects listed below. All were opposed by Labor in concert with the Howard Government.
The most important amendment, moved by The Greens, would have brought an independent review of funding as soon as possible after the commencement of the Act. The Democrats took a similar position, but were prepared to wait until two years after the Act commences. Both The Greens and the Democrats supported funding being maintained at existing levels, adjusted for inflation, so that no school would be disadvantaged compared to 2000.
Other Democrats and Greens amendments were to ensure:
- the socio-economic status (SES) score for a school to take into account existing financial resources of the school, its capacity to raise income from private sources and tuition and other fees charged;
- SES scores to be based on actual parental income of students at the school;
- a requirement that 95 percent of teachers employed by any authority be qualified, and reporting on the reasons for employing any unqualified teacher;
- reporting on any exclusion policies operated by the school.
Amendments which were supported by Labor as well as The Greens and Democrats included removal of the Enrolment Benchmark Adjustment (EBA) mechanism and removal of the funding increases from Category 1 (the most elite) private schools, with that money being used to increase funding for special education students in both public and private schools. Establishment grants to be paid to private schools would also be extended to public schools.
The Democrats and Labor agreed the first object of the Act would be to provide assistance to the states to provide quality, free, compulsory and secular public education. However, the Democrat amendment to reduce the disparity between resources available to schools serving the most disadvantaged and those serving the least disadvantaged was amended by Labor such that it recognises the importance of funding for non-government schools and that funding should be on the basis of need and to ensure their provision of education to an acceptable standard.
There is a two-week Parliamentary recess after which the amended Bill will go back to the House of Representatives in the week beginning November 27. Parliament rises on December 10 for the Christmas recess.
Labor has indicated that if the amendments are not accepted in the House of Representatives they will pass the legislation as it was originally presented by the Government.
Senator Bob Brown of The Greens will continue to oppose the legislation.
The Democrats have not yet declared how they will respond if the Government rejects the Senate amendments.
Sally Edsall is a Research Officer.
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