Public schools across Australia will remain underfunded in 2024 despite being in an “urgent and critical” position, the Australian Education Union says.
It has been revealed that extended bilateral agreements between the federal government and state and territory government were signed in November and December.
Australian Education Union president Correna Haythorpe said it was unacceptable that only 1.3 per cent of public schools across the nation are funded to the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).
The SRS is an estimate of how much total public funding a school needs to meet its students’ educational needs.
In 2024, the Commonwealth will fund at least 20 per cent of each government school’s SRS and 80 per cent of each non-government school’s SRS, according to the education department website.
“At the end of October, all governments were told by the expert panel they established that fully funding public schools was urgent and a critical prerequisite for improving student learning and wellbeing,” Ms Haythorpe said on Tuesday,
“Yet only weeks later, education ministers signed agreements for 2024 that deliver no increase in the Commonwealth share of the SRS and either no increase in the state and territory shares or very small increases."
She said public schools in the ACT will be the only ones fully funded and NSW is the only state with a commitment to actually get public schools to 100 per cent of the SRS by 2029
"We don’t have a level playing field in education that ensures every child gets every opportunity to succeed. Fixing that starts with funding," she said.
WHAT SRS FUNDING SCHOOLS WILL GET ACROSS THE COUNTRY:
* Victoria's commitment remains 75 per cent by 2028 in the bilateral but they are not increasing their share in 2024
* NSW commitment is 75 per cent by 2025 and 100 per cent by 2029 but their share only increases slightly in 2024
* QLD commitment remains 75 per cent by 2032.
* TAS commitment remains 75 per cent by 2027
* NT has no commitment to get to 75 per cent and the territory government share isn’t changing in 2024.
(Source: AEU federal branch)
