ALP appeases private school lobby
By Angelo Gavrielatos
The ALP continues to be more focussed on appeasing the private school lobby than celebrating the achievements of public education.
ALP leader Kevin Rudd's recent school education funding announcement restated that school funding under the ALP will be "needs based".
This will result in the preservation of the privileged position enjoyed by many private schools.
As many private schools operate at resource levels far exceeding public schools, a "needs based" funding policy would be of greater overall benefit for public schools. However, "needs based" funding could also have the effect of some private schools, particularly Catholic and "low fee-paying" schools, operating with more total government funds than their neighbouring public schools.
For this not to occur, the ALP would have to commit to breaking the nexus in funding between public and private schools which sees an automatic flow-on in resources to the latter. It would have to freeze funding to private schools operating above or at the "national resource standard" and provide a huge injection of funds to public schools to reverse the current funding arrangements.
Established in 2002 by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), the Schools Resource Taskforce has calculated that public schools require an additional $2.9 billion in recurrent funding to ensure that the National Schools Resourcing Standard necessary to ensure the National Goals of Schooling can be met. Indeed, the $2.9 billion grossly underestimates the true level of funding required as the Schools Resource Taskforce has not yet calculated costs associated with capital, or specific costs associated with special education or with assuring quality teaching for all students.
Failing to do this, the ALP will effectively have relinquished its commitment to its own policy of "needs based" funding.
Ultimately, the ALP's commitment to public education will be measured by the level of additional funding it proposes to allocate to public education.
Failure on the part of the ALP to make public education an absolute priority would represent an admission that the ALP is either incapable or unwilling to guarantee the provision of public schools of the highest quality in every community across the nation.
Federation will continue to campaign for:
- an absolute priority commitment to public education;
- a significant increase in funding to public schools;
- a redistribution of funds from private schools to public schools; and
- a commitment to significantly enhance public education funding in the equity areas of special needs, low socio economic status and Indigenous education.
Breaking the nexus
Funding levels for private schools are indexed to reflect the increase in costs incurred by government to educate students in public schools (commonly referred to as the Average Government Student Recurrent Cost -- AGSRC). Because public schools enrol about 90 per cent of students with disabilities, Aboriginal students and those from isolated and remote settings, the average cost of this public education provision is higher than in private schools. To automatically link this funding to private schools, therefore, is clearly inappropriate. By not breaking the nexus between the cost of educating students in public schools and the funding of private schools and the compounding effect of each abovementioned back flip, the ALP will ensure that the position of privilege currently enjoyed by private schools will be preserved.
Angelo Gavrielatos is the Deputy President.
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March 2007 contents
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