Ninety per cent want public schools funded

By Maree O’Halloran

The results of a recent poll commissioned by the Australian Education Union showed that when asked where new money for schools should be directed, 90 per cent of the people surveyed said it should go mainly to public schools.

Seventy three per cent of those polled also wanted the Budget surplus spent on education and health. Only 31 per cent called for tax cuts. (MarkMetrics Poll, April 20-26) The results are not surprising. They follow many other polls which consistently report that people want government money invested in education and health. The Federal Budget on May 9 was also no surprise in that it delivered largesse to the already advantaged in society (see story page 4). It followed the Coalition creed of delivering to its constituency. Control of the Senate allows the federal Coalition to redistribute to the wealth with little, if any, scrutiny.

What is important about the poll results are they indicate Federation's public education message will resonate. They indicate support for public education is strong, despite the Federal Government's decade of privatisation and exponential funding increases to private schools.

Unfortunately, both the federal Labor Opposition and the state Labor Government seem more intent on taking conservative political ground than either listening to public education communities or planning for sustainable economic growth and a just society. Most chilling and offensive were the statements attributed to ALP National President Warren Mundine, in The Australian on May 5 in the lead up to the Federal Budget and, of course, the Opposition Leader's budget in reply speech. Mr Mundine reportedly called for "tax breaks for private school parents" because they were "great parents". By implication, public school parents are not "great" and have not made the right "choice" for their children. Mr Mundine's statements further suggests that the ALP is either incapable of, or unwilling to, guarantee the provision of public schools of the highest quality in every community across the country.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley made a feeble effort at the Press Club on May 3 to persuade people that under Labor, public education would be a "national priority". The effect of his words was neutered by the fact that most of the education section of the speech was focused on appeasing the private school lobby as opposed to celebrating the achievements of public education.

Ultimately, federal Labor's commitment to public education will be measured by the level of additional funding it proposes to allocate to public education. This additional funding must come with a commitment to break the nexus which automatically guarantees increased funding to private schools when public school funding increases.

During 2005 to 2008, the Howard Government will allocate almost 75 per cent of direct federal government recurrent funding to the 32 per cent of students in private schools. The Costello Budget this year was characterised by his failure to even mention "education" in his budget speech. The amount of direct federal government funding to the so-called "independent" private schools (excluding Catholic Dioceses) is now greater than the amount expended on public schools. Between now and 2010 the only item of education expenditure to increase as a proportion of overall total expenditure is that directed to private schools.

The one spark of joy in the Federal Budget is that, after 13 years, additional funding for ESL -- New Arrivals Program is provided. The increase of $9 million across Australia could see at least 40 additional ESL teachers in public schools. It is now critical that the State Government matches this funding immediately.

With a record surplus Budget, the Howard Government has squandered an opportunity to invest for the future of our children, in our public schools and TAFE colleges.

In the face of governments' failure and public support, Federation has launched its most extensive advertising and publicity campaign yet. Under the title, "Making our great public education system even greater", the publicity campaign is aimed at building support for public education and public demand for increased investment in public schools. The advertising will continue to roll out between now and the state election. A separate, but complementary, advertising campaign in support of TAFE has also commenced.

On Public Education Day, Thursday May 18, Professor Tony Vinson was due to release his paper into the provision of public pre schools. Professor Vinson's paper canvasses best practice overseas as well as case studies in NSW. His recommendations will be critical to the Federation's campaign goal of achieving more pre school places in public primary schools.

The ACTU and Unions NSW have developed a program of further protest action against the Federal Government's industrial relations legislation.

Federation supports that program. The protest action is designed to support and strengthen all the other campaign activities. It is important that union members remain visible in the campaign. Protest action builds solidarity, gives hope to those workers suffering under the legislation and is a potent message to the community that unions fight for their rights. The next piece of action is scheduled for Wednesday June 28 during the National Week of Action.

On behalf of the Federation I would like to thank those members who were involved in the Amery case. The High Court decided by a 6-1 majority against the 13 casual teachers. Justice Kirby, in his dissenting opinion, criticised the conservatism of the current High Court. The women involved in this case have taken a long and courageous stand against the State Government's exploitation. Their stand has also been the catalyst for the introduction of better conditions for "long term casual" (now "temporary") teachers.

Finally it should be noted that Federation Council condemned the State Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, for her decision to introduce legislation into Parliament that removes procedural fairness safeguards for teachers. The Government's action in this regard is what would be expected of exploitative employers.

Politics at the school gate

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May 2006 contents