As more than 185,000 students pack their bags in preparation for the return to school today, discounts to school fees and laptop purchases are providing South Australian families with much needed cost of living relief – with some families thousands of dollars better off.
The biggest saving for some families will be through the Malinauskas Labor Government’s new laptop program. Beginning this year, families on School Card, with students in years 7 and 10 attending one of the 226 participating schools, will receive free devices to support their studies.
For primary school students, the government will contribute 50 per cent towards the cost of devices based on a 1:3 whole-of-school ratio. Parents and caregivers of primary school card students are also not required to contribute to the cost of digital devices.
15,200 devices have now been delivered to schools at a cost of $14 million as part of the rollout of the new policy.
This program will be fully rolled out over the next three years and will be expanded to all high school students on a School Card by 2026.
It comes as the government has now rolled out access to at home internet for almost 5,000 families – through the department’s home internet program and in partnership with the Commonwealth Government’s NBN program.
Students who do not have internet at home are eligible for access to free internet, and families can continue to sign up in 2024.
The Malinauskas Labor Government is again – for the third year in a row – supporting all South Australian public school families with a $100 Materials and Services charge discount.
This discount is automatically applied to the charge by the schools, meaning parents are not required to apply and will keep that money in their pockets from the start of the school year.
We are also increasing in the income threshold for the School Card by $4,582 to $70,994 for a family with one child, with increases of $1,268 for each extra child in the family.
Families who earn less than the new threshold do not have to pay their child’s school’s prescribed Material and Services charge – which this year is $287 for primary and $379 for secondary students.
Breakfast programs are also being made available in more schools this year, following a $6.5 million boost from the State Government over four years.
This year new agreements with Kickstart for Kids and Foodbank SA will see a funding injection of $1.12 million ensuring that more students can access free healthy food from breakfast programs, with all of the State’s most disadvantaged schools encouraged to participate.
As put by Peter Malinauskas
This Government is providing unprecedented cost of living relief, though a variety of measures detailed in a package worth $471.3 million in the 2023 State Budget.
That includes setting aside $12 million to continue the $100 per child subsidy for the government school materials and services charge for the 2024 school year – benefiting families of around 120,000 government school students.
We know that this time of year can be daunting for families, particularly when they have more than one child at school, so I would encourage anyone who is having difficulties to speak with their child’s school about the options that are available.
This Government continues to find ways to support our community to manage the cost of living impacts that are being felt nationwide.
As put by Blair Boyer
The continued Materials and Services Charge relief, student device program and breakfast programs are all ways in which the Malinauskas Labor Government is addressing inequity across our system, and ensuring the best support in schools to benefit teaching and learning.
We have also supported the student home internet program and the school student broadband initiative to ensure that no matter a student’s background – they have access to a quality education and the resources needed to study.
In total this government has made an investment in the materials and services charge rebate of $36 million over three years – delivering practical support to families right across the state.
These are significant investments to support families when they need it most.
Our government is doing what we can to remove the cost barriers that families face and to support students in accessing the best quality education.
