Parents have a brief opportunity to give the Senate their views on school funding.
The Senate is holding a Committee Inquiry on the provisions of the Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024. We have reported previously on the current funding stand-off between the Federal and most State Governments. You can catch up on the details on the school funding page of our website. There’s also a detailed analysis of the legislation by Trevor Cobbold from Save Our Schools.
It’s critical for parents (and everybody else!) to give the Senate Inquiry a clear message; all Australian public schools should be funded to 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). See “Key messages” below.
Submissions close on Thursday 24 October
Once the Bill passes, it’s hard to change the legislation, so we must ensure they get it right now, so our public schools are adequately funded, now and into the future.
Time is short, submissions close next Thursday (24 October), so we encourage everyone to get started on their submission right away – as you’ll see below, it’s not as difficult as you might think!
How to make a submission
Here’s some advice from the AEU:
Every submission is meaningful, doesn’t have to be in any particular style, and doesn’t have to be long. Even if you only have 10 minutes, take the opportunity to inform the federal government that you want your concerns addressed.
You don’t have to have any particular high-level policy or legal expertise to write a submission.
Key messages
- The gap between the Albanese Government’s offer to states of 22.5% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) and the full 25% is worth an additional $1000 per student. Yet, their legislation is proposing to lock in a floor of only 20% which any future government could revert to, resulting in funding cuts to schools.
- Reinforce the importance of the Commonwealth government setting a floor of 25% SRS share as opposed to 20%. Highlight the cost of living benefits for parents and families if full funding is delivered for public schools.
- Highlight the benefits for students if full funding is delivered.
These details are from a Submission Guide prepared by the Australian Education Union, which has all the details on how to make a submission, (the easiest way to submit is via the Parliament website.)
Example
Here’s an example of a personal submission, written by our CEO Gail McHardy:
As an Australian mother, grandmother and taxpayer I’m anxious and angry about what lies ahead for public education and my grandchildren.
It is clear to me there is definitely an imbalance of school funding that is being distributed to public and private schools and it’s not better and fairer to public schools.
It is not up to the community to have to beg and persuade the politicians on the best and fairest funding formula, it should be a given that schools and students who need it, receive it.
A number of academics have attempted to do this already (e.g. Gonski, Boston, Connors, etc) , yet politics determines how that plays out.
Australian public schools are supporting and educating the most students that are deemed in the category of most disadvantaged.
It astounds me that the Government of the day (they all do it) determines the required student outcomes which are built into these school funding agreements.
How on earth will public schools meet these unrealistic reform expectations when both Federal and their respective State and Territories don’t or won’t fund public students with the money needed to deliver.
I’m perplexed to read about “floors and ceilings” – government’s are the public school landlords and public schools must be first priority with the public purse, just fund them what they need and now!
Before private school people or supporters object to my last sentence please consider the bigger picture and the fact that the private sector has numerous income streams to their schools that public schools don’t.
Our public schools are being robbed of money with the inclusion of a non-SRS funding trick as part of the state funding formula as summarised in Trevor Cobbold’s 16 October article.
I agree with Mr Cobbold’s recommended amendments to the Bill.
When I receive my next Australian Government Tax Receipt statement that summarises where my personal tax is spent, I want to see Health, Welfare and Education listed as the top three.
The Federal Government has more capacity to invest in education than what States and Territories do.
I’m also appalled that the public messaging by our Federal Minister claims “a pathway to full and fair funding for all schools” when public schools have to wait until 2029!
There is no guarantee nor am I convinced public schools will get 100% SRS by 2029 (especially with an upcoming Federal Election) and we’ve already wasted so MANY YEARS WAITING but the private sector haven’t.)
The Bill’s title is misleading – it is certainly not better and fairer for public school students!
