Public education unites

MAREE O'HALLORAN has been uplifted by responses in defence of public education.

I was uplifted to arrive in Wagga to find the whole front page of the Daily Advertiser (February 20) devoted to a comprehensive and passionate response from public high school principals in the area to Prime Minister John Howard's deliberately divisive comments about public education. Similar responses are appearing in countless school newsletters, letters to the editor and school signs. We must promote, celebrate and defend the very notion of a universal public education system. Where public education unites, the Prime Minister would seek to divide. We need to be passionate and strong about the values of public education and the need for governments and society to value public education, students and teachers.

The Federal Government has made a deliberate policy decision to abandon public education in the lead up to the election. Its alliance with the Catholic hierarchy to include Catholic schools (with funding maintenance) into the socio-economic status (SES) funding mechanism institutionalises the unfair principles underlying direct federal funding of schools. The funding model takes no account of the current resources of private schools. Furthermore, it takes no account of the actual financial position of the parents who send their children to private schools. Instead the model uses the postcode of the child's home address to determine funding by looking at the aggregated and average income of people in the postcode. Thus people with high incomes and wealth may reap benefit from their neighbour's poverty. The alliance with the Catholic hierarchy is as much about locking the ALP into the SES funding formula as about promoting private schools. The debate on the States Grants Act this year will be the litmus test for the ALP in relation to their position on public education.

The Act must be opposed. During the course of his speech announcing a further $360 million windfall to Catholic education, the Prime Minister said: "But although only 68 per cent of Australian children now attend government schools, these schools receive combined some 74 per cent of the total government funding which is available. And that is an illustration of the fact that suggestions that government schools are being short changed to the benefit of non-government schools is without any foundation". (John Howard, February 29, Casimir College.)

Thus the Prime Minister attempts to reduce education, particularly public education, to a matter of numbers. The clear implication of the Prime Minister's use of "only" in conjunction with "68 per cent" is that from his perspective, government schools receive too much funding. The inevitable logic of the Prime Minister's position is a voucher system and the end of universal, free and secular education: public education. This campaign is not about numbers; it is about the nature and purpose of public education.

The Prime Minister continues to demonstrate through his words and policy choices that he does not govern for the public education community.

Where the Federal Government has a choice over expenditure, it chooses to send 70 per cent of funding to "only" 31 per cent of children.

The Australian Education Union's television commercial about federal funding to private schools is designed to be confrontational. The commercial has Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations (FACTS) approval and is entirely accurate. It is an advertisement about the Federal Government's choices during a federal election year.

The Federal Government has made a policy decision that it has responsibility for private schools. That decision is not founded in the constitution or history. The Federal Government directly funds education through the mechanism of section 96 tied grants. It could make any combination of policy choices with those tied grants but chooses to advantage private schools.

To use the Prime Minister's numbers analysis, in 1960, 100 per cent of total government funding went to public schools which at the time educated 76 per cent of Australia's children.

Since the mid 1960s there has been a steady increase of public dollars flowing from both state and federal governments to private schools. However, it is since 1996 and the advent of the Howard Government that the greatest proportionate increases have gone to private education.

The Public Education Alliance of parents, principals and teachers will be a powerful force in the lead up to the federal election. Please join in the activities planned for Public Education Day on May 20. We must start mobilising.

Salaries

In NSW, the State Budget in May looms as the next important political focus for the campaign. The NSW Government, currently besieged by rail and hospital crises of its own making, will continue to argue that it cannot afford the significant increase in salary that is required to uplift the status of the profession. We must always remember that this Government argued from May 12, 2003 until December 19, 2003 that it could only afford three per cent per annum (financial year) salary increases. On December 19, however, the Government announced that it could fully fund 5.5 per cent from January 1, 2004 to June 30, 2004 (the end of interim award). While I hope we do not have to resort to further industrial action, in pursuit of our campaign, we must stand ready to do so.

TAFE funding cuts and student fees

On Wednesday March 10, TAFE members will hold a 24-hour strike to protest against funding cuts to TAFE and student fee increases. The ability of TAFE to provide quality public education is at risk. Federation thanks all members for their involvement in this difficult campaign. We must do everything within our power to ensure that NSW retains a quality TAFE system available to everyone.

For further information

March 2004 contents