Agreement has been reached today between the Australian and South Australian Governments to ensure that the 250 000 students of South Australia receive the funding available to them under the Gonski funding reforms. South Australia joins New South Wales and the ACT in agreeing to meet the needs of every student in every school. This agreement will increase public funding to South Australian schools by around $1.1 billion between 2013 and 2019. This will mean $717 million for public schools.      

On Saturday 15 June, parents, principals, teachers and students in Sunraysia will rally to encourage the Victorian Government to sign the Gonski agreement and compel Tony Abbott to honour the agreement. Parents and teachers of NSW will join with parents and teachers of Victoria to highlight the difference in funding between the two states if the Victorian Government does not sign the Gonski agreement.

Monday June 3 was National TAFE Day. This was an opportunity to pay tribute to the outstanding role of TAFE Institutes across Australia. Whether we went to TAFE ourselves, or rely on the skills and expertise of someone who did, we are all beneficiaries of TAFE. In the past year, governments have put this public education sector at risk by making savage cuts, in NSW, Victoria and Queensland. A federal parliamentary inquiry into TAFE has been established, with hundreds of submissions already received, and hearings planned in the coming weeks.

On Monday 3rd June NSW Teachers Federation TAFE members are participating in National TAFE Day celebrations. The National TAFE Day has been called to highlight the critical role TAFE plays in rural, regional and metropolitan communities across Australia. Maurie Mulheron, President said, “More than 1.06 million students were enrolled in TAFE in 2012. TAFE provides accessible education and training for all Australians regardless of their ability to pay.

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is celebrated across Australia each year between 27 May and 3 June. The dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey—the anniversaries of the successful 1967 referendum and the High Court Mabo decision. The week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements and to explore how each of us can join the national reconciliation effort.

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald (25/05/2013) describes the growing divide between coalition  leaders in the NSW and federal parliaments over school funding.  

The Ryde-Macquarie Teachers Association celebrated Public Education Day (May 23) with a tour of the Schoolhouse Museum of Public Education in North Ryde. At the end of the tour, a "Gonski" afternoon tea cake was cut. In this historical setting, the cake was representative of optimism for the continued endurance of public education.

State and territory leaders are deciding on Gonski right now. On the 23rd of April, just days after COAG, NSW became the first state to sign up to Gonski, ensuring an additional $5 billion will flow to NSW schools over the next six years. The NSW Premier told the NSW Parliament he had signed up for an additional $5 billion in NSW schools, because “the agreement we have signed up to is about more resources and the fairer distribution of those resources across the system and about higher standards and better outcomes.”

  Public Education Day is Thursday May 23. Members are asked to mark the day with activities such as a morning tea to celebrate the progress in the Gonski campaign. Members are also asked to email federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott [via igiveagonski.com.au or (02) 9977 6411], or contact their local federal Coalition MP or candidate to seek a guarantee to honour any Gonski agreement.

  The NSW Teachers Federation will today step up the campaign to get Tony Abbott to support the NSW agreement on Gonski with the launch of a state-wide mobile billboard tour. Three mobile billboards will tour NSW with the message that the Gonski agreement struck by NSW and the Commonwealth must be honoured by Mr Abbott if he wins the September election.

The Australian Education Union has said today’s budgetary commitment of $9.8 billion for the Gonski reforms in schools, means we can finally begin to fix a broken model of schools funding.

There is much to celebrate after the finalisation of the $5 billion Gonski agreement for our schools.It means fairer funding and additional resources targeted to where they are needed the most.