A NSW public school student starting kindergarten this year will reach year 12 having spent their whole school life in a deliberately under-resourced sector, unless the $14 billion funding cuts introduced by the federal Liberal-National government are reversed.
Recent analysis of bilateral state and territory government funding deals has revealed that the cuts implemented by the Morrison Government’s schools funding legislation will leave 99 per cent of public schools below the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), the minimum per-student funding needed to meet the educational needs of students, by 2023. By contrast, nearly 99 per cent of private schools in the country will be funded at or in excess of the SRS by that same year.
We need a fairer model
A recent survey conducted by the Australian Education Union (AEU) revealed that four out of five public school principals believed they lacked the resources required to properly educate students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Some 82 per cent of students from low socio-economic backgrounds are enrolled in their local public school
- 84 per cent of our First Nations people attend their local public school
- In remote communities in NSW 78 per cent of students attend public schools, while in very remote communities this increases to 88 per cent of students attending public schools
- 23 per cent of students attending NSW public school identify as learning English as an additional language or dialect
- 74 per cent of students with disability attend public schools.
The Morrison government refuses to fully fund and implement needs-based loadings to these students. Meanwhile, over-funded private schools that should be transitioning down to their fair share of funding have instead become beneficiaries of federal slush funds designed to inject millions of dollars into schools and systems that are already receiving, in some cases, more than double their Commonwealth funding entitlement.
For these reasons, on 4 February Federation joined Australian Education Union counterparts to launch a fleet of Fair Funding Now! vans across the country to visit communities in marginal electorates to highlight the $14 billion cut from public school budgets by the Morrison Government.
Campaign vans will engage parents and community members in local schools, associations and communities to deliver a strong message about differences that exist between the major parties when it comes to schools funding.
Help make this the education election
- Seek commitments from your local candidates for a schools funding model that properly resources schools to meet the educational needs of every child. The Federal ALP has had its commitments fully costed which include an additional $14 billion for public schools, and an additional $300 million for students with disability. The Greens has also committed to reversing the Morrison Government’s cuts to public schools.
- Explain the situation to your friends, neighbours and members of your family and ask them to contact their MP and local candidates to demand the fair funding of public schools.
- Please consider registering as a volunteer for the Fair Funding Now campaign via your Organiser or at fairfundingnow.org.au.