Labor’s proposed ‘Better and Fairer’ Schools Agreement will lock in another decade of underfunding for public schools, cementing Australia’s school system as one of the most unequal and segregated in the OECD.
The Commonwealth Government must raise its offer to fund public schools from 22.5% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) to a minimum of 25%. Anything less will lock in another decade of under-resourcing of our public schools.
As stated by Greens spokesperson on Primary and Secondary Education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:
“The federal government’s offer is woefully inadequate, and it will consign another generation of young people to an underfunded education.
“Public education is the fundamental building block of Australian society – if Labor can’t fund that properly, what are they doing here?
“Every school parent and carer can see that this is a deeply broken, inequitable and damaging system.
“Every day this year, the federal Government will give $51 million to private schools, while leaving public schools underfunded. Every day. Who can look a public school parent or carer in the eye and say that’s a fair system?
“The Government must make a choice. Will it further entrench a two-tier system where public schools, which educate the vast majority of disadvantaged students, are forced to struggle by on inadequate funding? Or will it invest in our young people and properly fund our public schools?
“Let me make this clear: public schools, students and teachers cannot be left to scrape by on less than the bare minimum. Labor’s deal is not a deal for full funding.”
As stated by Independent Senator for the ACT, Senator David Pocock:
“Properly funding our public schools must be a top priority and I can’t in good conscience back legislation that will bake in underfunding for a decade to come.
“The ACT has been fortunate enough to be the only jurisdiction to hit 100 per cent of its school resourcing standard but even then we’ve got kids without enough chairs in class, teachers burning out, classes collapsing.
“Australia lags behind OECD countries in equitable access to education and the gap between public and private is widening.
“Every Australian child should have access to the best possible public education and that will take a significant funding commitment from all levels of government.”
As stated by Independent Senator for WA, Senator Fatima Payman:
“The Labor Government’s glaring failure to fully fund our public schools is not just a matter of budgetary allocation; it’s a question of values and priorities.
“By neglecting public schools, we are condemning another generation of Australian kids to an underfunded education.
“Every child, regardless of their background, their postcode, their parents income, deserves a fully funded, high-quality education.”
As stated by Senator for Tasmania, Senator Jacqui Lambie:
“On the back of the Gonski reforms in 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard told Australians that your postcode shouldn’t determine how well you do in life
“But in 2024 more than half of the $29 billion government spend on schools in Australia goes to private schools!
“Gonksi was a Labor reform – it blows me away that Education Minister Jason Clare still hasn’t fixed this. While our richest private schools are getting taxpayer money to build libraries that look like castles and sports centres with Olympic swimming pools – my old high school is still using demountables from the late 1980’s.”
