AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE
DEFENCE OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
PRESS RELEASE 376
GILLARD’S EDUCATION FUNDING REVIEW
19 April 2010
On 15 April, the
Federal Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, addressed the Sydney Institute.
The topic of her address was A future fair for all: School funding in
She began her
speech by the usual Labor Party expression of hope that the question of school funding would no longer be used to divide the Australian
community, to pit school against school and school system against school
system.
She went on to
say that she wishes to seek a constructive
and open approach to the questions of school funding.
How does she
expect to reconcile the irreconcilable? How can you talk about fairness when
the funding system is unfair? How Gillard
will continue the current funding arrangements which blatantly favour the
private sector, giving in to all their demands, is a mystery, especially when
she promises that no private school will be ‘worse off’. How can she even dream
of a community which is undivided when sectarian schools are encouraged to divide
children on the basis of class, creed and culture at taxpayer’s expense?
Not
unsurprisingly, Julia Gillard is falling back on the time-honored Labor methods
invented by Beazley and Whitlam in 1973 when taxpayer funding of religious
schools was legitimated by the ‘needs’ policy. Those with any memory will
recall how this quickly transmuted into the ‘greeds’
policy. The labor Party compromise entails consultation and collaboration where
the public sector always loses out to aggressive religious interests. It is unlikely that any strong advocate of
public education who opposes taxpayer funding of sectarian schools will be
invited to influence Gillard’s committees. Although she is promising ‘stakeholder’
input into the terms of reference, Gillard has already pre-empted these with a
series of ‘fundamental questions’.
She said :
"… As a first step, I intend to consult with
stakeholders about the terms of reference for the review.
The terms of reference should go to the most fundamental
questions.
·
What is the fundamental entitlement needed to provide a
child with a high quality education?
·
How do we best cater for the needs of and support
students with disability, indigenous students and students at risk to ensure
all students have access to a high quality education?
·
What are the different funding models used overseas and
how do these link to outcomes and quality in their respective education
systems?
·
What does the My School website tell us about the
relationship between resources and outcomes for similar students?
By the end of this month I will release a discussion
paper on school funding building on these fundamental questions. At the
same time I will release draft terms of reference for the funding review for
consultation.
I anticipate that these consultations will conclude in
May and the details of the terms of reference of the review itself will be
announced based on this feedback.
Gillard rushed to
appease the wealthy members of sectarian education sector before they bared
their political teeth. She said that the review was not about taking money away
from schools. Even if enrolments change and students move in and out of
schools, no school will lose a dollar of funding in the sense that their school
budget per student will not reduce in dollar terms. She concluded:
I recognise that the debate about different options should be
spirited – I welcome that. But spirited and open exchange and consideration is
not the same as seeking to close off debate. We will not allow our opponents to
misrepresent the nature of this review, and we will seek community support for
a process which is open, thorough and balanced. I urge Australians not to see
threats from this review but opportunities. And I ask the whole Australian
community to participate in this most important debate about our nation’s
future.
Reaction of the
Julia Gillard’s attempts to appease the sectarian
sector were to no avail. Two days later on April 17, 2010, The media ( The Age, 17 April 2010) reported that the director of Catholic
Education in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, Stephen Elder, said parents and
schools would not be reassured by Ms Gillard's statements because she had not
guaranteed to maintain funding in real terms. He claimed;
The Deputy Prime Minister's proposal means that, after
2012, Catholic schools in
If you've got education costs
(rising) at about 5 per cent a year, and you've got your major source of
funding from the government held at a particular level, then you will have
difficulty, and someone's going to have to make up the difference and we
believe that parents shouldn't have to make up that difference.
Ms Green expressed concern about Ms Gillard's statement that the review
would have to examine the funding of all
schools from all sources.
Independent schools should not
be singled out from government schools because they receive after-tax contributions
from parents and others in their schools communities, she said.
So, the Catholic sector want to continue the current open chequebook and
misleading statistics about public school costs which ignore the incremental
costs incurred by the public sector. And the dependent schools (lets call the
independent schools for what they really are) are sensitive about raising
school fees, (tell that to the poor aspirational parents who have debt
collectors chasing their houses) and taxation minimisation schemes enjoyed by wealthy
private school parents.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Labor could not be trusted to
maintain private school funding. They
don't like private education, he told Channel Nine. If they're re-elected, as sure as night follows day, they will try to
cut private school funding.
The State Aid auction is starting well before the 2010 federal election
and, as usual, the major beneficiary, the Catholic system, has taken the front
line.
AEU Welcomes
Funding Review
The Australian Education Union took
a positive line on the Federal Government’s move to initiate a review of
schools funding. AEU Federal President, Angelo Gavrielatos said the review
represents one of the most important chapters in the history of schools funding
in
This review will
be about the rights of Australian families and the obligation of governments.
It is the right of
every family to have access to a well resourced, high quality public school in
their local community.
That means
sufficient qualified teachers and staff to meet the needs of students, a broad
curriculum of the highest quality and a safe, modern 21st
century learning environment.
Only by properly
funding our public schools can we guarantee every child has the opportunity to
fulfil their potential.
A strong and
vibrant system of public education is vital not only to families and local
communities but
also to
It remains the key
to a strong economy, a skilled workforce and a cohesive society.
A new funding
system should ensure that the Federal Government meets its
primary obligation
to adequately and appropriately fund public schools.
True equity can
only exist when government schools set the standard for high
quality education.
All the above statements are
useful motherhood statements for a starting point in Terms of Reference for the
Gillard Education Funding Review. But none of them deals with the fundamental
reality that you cannot have a vibrant public education system for a strong economy,
skilled workforce and cohesive society when taxpayer funds are going out a
leaky sieve into a sectarian system which divides children on the basis of
class, creed and culture.
DEFEND PUBLIC EDUCATION AND STOP STATE AID TO PRIVATE RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS.
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