Public schools — democracy at work

By Maree O’Halloran

Prime Minister John Howard is wrong. The values of public education are its strength and the basis of our public education campaign. The collective gasp of anger and shock about his deliberately damaging and divisive attack on our public schools (and this union) is the sound of a constituency fired.

John Howard is literally wrong and tactically wrong. As the values debate gathers pace, the funding debate follows. The Prime Minister of this nation funds those schools who expound his values. He values, above others, the participants in those schools. More than two-thirds of direct Federal Government education funding goes to the one third of students in private schools. In 2004 funding to private schools exceeded funding to public universities.

The Prime Minister of the nation, the leader of the nation, should govern for all Australians. This one governs for the already advantaged. This one does not hesitate to create a two-tiered society.

It matters not whether the Prime Minister's salvo was designed to divert attention from the funding of our public schools and universities, or whether he intends to engage the electorate in this debate as part of an election strategy. What matters is that this ground is ours. The values of public education are the values of democracy.

The attack does exemplify why this union, in concert with the Australian Education Union, must campaign for the defeat of the Howard Government and its agenda.

Both the Senate and the Lower House are critical in this campaign. Shifting government means shifting votes in the Lower House. The Senate, on the other hand, gives us the best hope of electing candidates who will promote public education.

The alternative government has a new leader who is currently feeding the media pack. In what looks like being a "long haul" election campaign throughout 2004, it remains to be seen whether Mark Latham will cease his populist shifts of ground and begin to articulate an alternative vision for Australia marked not just by the ability of one or two children to climb "the ladder of opportunity" but by transformative politics. In other words, let's hope the new leader wants to do more than merely "civilise global capital".

The crucial test for Labor, and the one it failed in 2001, will be the States Grants Act debate in Federal Parliament (tentatively scheduled for June). If an alternative government intends to change the iniquitous socio-economic status funding formula that has sent huge increases to private schools, then the States Grants Act must be amended or blocked.

The ALP is talking about national resource standards for our schools which, on the face of it, should advantage public education. Yet the reality of needs-based funding may well be a redistribution of funds between private schools (the NSW Grimshaw model) rather than increases to public schools. At the very least the bipartisan nature of the politics of education in Australia has been cracked. Translating this crack into relatively greater increases to public education will be the issue.

In a strong speech in support of public education at the Australian Education Union conference in Hobart, Greens leader Bob Brown also stressed the concept of "double-value" voting as a feature of The Greens election campaign. Their public education platform is, to date, the strongest of any party. "Double-value" voting however, is a tactic for the end of an election campaign. At this stage we need to extract more substance, more detail and more priority to public education from the Labor Party.

Federal and state governments

Unfortunately state Labor governments tend to demonstrate to the electorate poor examples of Labor in practice and become an impediment to their federal counterparts.

Hence we will hear a lot from Federal Coalition MPs about the State Government's failure to properly fund public education. Both federal and state governments have a primary duty to public education. This is the constitutional, historical and moral truth. Both have failed that primary duty. As Inquiry into the Provision of Public Education in NSW chair Professor Vinson points out between 1996 and 2001, combined federal and state funding spending increased by 45.1 per cent to private schools compared with 27.4 per cent to public schools. This figure factors out enrolment increases and does not account for the even greater disparity from 2002 to 2004. These increases are policy driven. While both federal and state governments must be tackled, the Federal Government has the most blatant and damaging funding regime.

Directors-General

The demise of Jan McClelland will cause not a ripple in our classrooms. Nevertheless, Dr Refshauge's decision to remove her was an exceedingly ill-timed political act. It gave credence to the perception created by Howard that there is a crisis in public education. The new Director-General, Andrew Cappie-Wood, has no experience in schools or TAFE but brings with him a social justice background from Housing and Aboriginal Affairs and "change management" experience. Sadly, unless State Government policy changes, the new Director-General will be as handicapped as the previous one.

Downpayment on salary

The interim award of 5.5 per cent should be seen as a down payment for teachers against a greater increase due before June 30. Taken in conjunction with the decision of the Industrial Relations Commission, which recognised "profound" and "significant changes" in teachers' work, the interim augurs well. A final decision before the State Budget would ensure that the final decision will be fully-funded from Treasury.

TAFE fees

Congratulations to all members in TAFE who have taken a strong and difficult stand against the massive fee increases in TAFE. This strong action in support of our students and the TAFE system is in the public interest. The media reports since January this year indicate that we have touched a chord in communities across the state. Our campaign is justified and will continue.

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February 2004 contents