School principals have joined the teachers’ union in demanding the Albanese government boost its offer to co-fund the gap in public school funding with states.
The Australian Education Union, leaders of all major principals’ organisations and the Australian Council of State School Organisations have written to the prime minister demanding the federal government pay at least a quarter of the cost of fair public school funding.
On 31 January the Albanese government struck a deal with Western Australia, offering to boost the commonwealth share to 22.5% of the school resource standard (SRS) over two years, in return for a further 2.5% and education reforms from WA.
The “landmark” deal was intended as a blueprint to be rolled out nationwide, but it was immediately rejected by other states, who are still calling for the commonwealth to lift its share to 25%.
The Turnbull government’s Gonski 2.0 education reforms required states to fund public schools at 75% of the SRS on top of the federal contribution of 20%, leaving a funding gap of at least 5%.
No public school in Australia, except for schools in the Australian Capital Territory, is now funded at the SRS level – a benchmark for required funding based on student needs.
The letter to Anthony Albanese, sent on Tuesday by the representatives of public school principals, parents, teachers and education support staff said they welcomed Labor’s “election promise to end” underfunding of schools.
Labor had promised to put schools on a “pathway” to full funding, which the AEU criticised as vague.
The letter noted that the government’s independent expert education panel had found in December that full funding of public schoolswas “urgent and critical”.
“We urge you to reach agreements this year that deliver 100% of the SRS for public schools by 2028 at the latest, with a minimum Commonwealth contribution of 25% of the SRS,” the AEU and principals wrote.
The letter also called on the Albanese government to remove “unacceptable loopholes” from school funding agreements that allow spending thatwas not “directly related to the costs of educating students in school” to count towards public schools’ funding.
“This runs counter to the design and legislated intent of the SRS and artificially inflates the state and territory SRS shares by 4%, or more than $2bn every year.”
The letter said the $216m one-off allocation for public school infrastructure in 2023-24 “will make a real difference” but called for a “significant, ongoing national investment”.
“As prime minister for our nation, you have a unique opportunity to ensure that every child in every school across Australia has access to a fully funded high quality public education”.
The letter was signed by: the AEU; ACSSO, which represents the interests of 2.4 million children attending government schools; and the heads of principals associations for government primary, secondary, special education, and Australian primary schools.
The AEU federal president, Correna Haythorpe, said only 1.3% of public schoolswere funded at the SRS compared to 98% of private schools.
“Inequality in funding is driving inequality in outcomes between students from different backgrounds and locations,” she said.
“Those unacceptable gaps can be as large as six years of learning between students of the same age.
“New figures from the Productivity Commission show public school funding increased by 20.3% (or 2% per year) in real terms between 2012-13 and 2021-22.”
Haythorpe said private school funding from governments increased by 37% over the same period.
“This is despite public schools educating the vast majority of students with higher needs, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, rural and remote areas, students with a disability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students,” she said.
