A new approach gets results

Chris Hayes (centre) signs the pledge in the presence of Susan Greaves (left) and Jo Cooley.

When politicians see first-hand the achievements of public schools and are lobbied by parents and teachers they can be turned around on funding issues, writes HENRY RAJENDRA.

Since the beginning of term 2, 2006, Camden-Campbelltown and St Marys-Mt Druitt Teachers Associations have been actively engaged in a campaign strategy that celebrates the achievements of their schools while also impressing upon local politicians the need for increased funding and support.

Originally titled Public Education -- Local Achievement, Local Campaigning, the strategy places local politicians amongst parents, students and teachers at school events. Politicians see firsthand the range of achievement and success within public education and then are lobbied by each school community for increased targeted funding.

Conceptualised initially as a long term strategy in the lead up to the 2007 state and federal elections, it is now envisaged that this style of lobbying and school community engagement will transcend election cycles and continue on after the looming federal election. This is a significant break from previous lobbying strategies that were often short term, involved very few schools and, as such, remained unrepresentative of the depth of feeling and range of issues within local public school communities.

This new approach has resulted in tangible policy shifts and increased funding for individual schools.

Eagle Vale High School provides a recent example of a school community that successfully lobbied for improved maintenance delivery and achieved increased funding for major repairs. In the week prior to a visit by NSW Education Minister John Della Bosca, the school's Federation Representative Stephen Rix wrote to Mr Della Bosca on behalf of members and detailed their long standing struggle to have the Department of Education and Training (DET) address their maintenance issues. They sought the Minister's intervention and indicated that if there was inadequate progress, they would consider a program of industrial and political action. As a result the Minister and DET have a made a long overdue commitment to fund the needed repairs.

Further lobbying success was realised when ALP Federal MPs Roger Price (Chifley) and Chris Hayes (Werriwa) signed the Public Education Pledge supporting a significant increase in targeted funding for public schools in their respective electorates.

It was a substantial achievement for schools in the Chifley electorate to secure the signature of Roger Price. Since prior to the 2004 federal election, the St Marys-Mt Druitt Teachers Association and local schools have made a concerted effort to shift Mr Price's stance on a number of critical issues. In 2005 Mr Price was faced with building pressure from parents and teachers after failing to support increased ESL assistance for students in his electorate and declining to represent these issues to his political party and the Federal Government. Over six months of letter writing from parents and teachers and invitations to visit their schools they finally achieved a breakthrough. Mr Price made a public commitment to calling for greater assistance for the many students of non-English speaking background in the Chifley electorate.

Mr Price's signing of the pledge represents a more timely commitment in the context of the upcoming federal election. However, once again, he initially ignored requests to sign the pledge and directly declined to meet with Association representatives in a letter to Association Secretary Michael de Wall. This followed a long and disappointing history of Mr Price publicly attacking local members of Federation for campaigning for increased funding for public schools. His recent about face is another clear sign that pressure from parents and teachers can be too much to bear for a member of parliament who is regularly confronted by the local implications of his party's policies.

Amongst the many noteworthy contributors to the success of this lobbying strategy, Sarah Colomb of Chifley College (Mt Druitt Campus) stands out for her persistence in pursuing a meeting with Mr Price to discuss education issues. In early September Sarah visited Mr Price's office on two occasions, only to be turned away because he was too busy and unavailable for any future appointments. In a moment of understandable frustration, Sarah made clear to Mr Price's staff that she would be advising the local newspapers of his unavailability. To Sarah's surprise, she received a letter from Mr Price, dated that same day, making himself available to meet with her.

Examples such as these demonstrate the importance and potential of lobbying collectively with parents and teachers to achieve greater support and resources for our public schools.

Henry Rajendra is a City Organiser.

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Last Modified: 25 Oct 2007