Principals have welcomed the passage of the Federal Government’s new funding legislation through the House of Representatives, but are calling for a faster rollout to address public schools’ immediate resource shortages.
The Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024 – set to replacing the current National School Reform Agreement, which expires on 31 December 2024 – removes the “funding ceiling” that stops the Commonwealth providing more than 20% of funding to public schools and turns that into a “funding floor”.
The new legislation, which now moves to the Senate for debate, allows the Albanese Government to make good on its agreements with the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania, and any other States or Territories that sign up to the government’s funding deal.
Pat Murphy, president of the Australian Government Primary Principals Association (AGPPA), said public schools urgently need additional funding, and removing this cap is the first step toward achieving this.
“We need this to happen faster than what’s currently being proposed across various states and territories,” Murphy told The Educator.
“Public schools serve the most disadvantaged students in the community, yet over 83% of them are currently significantly underfunded according to the Gonski methodology.”
Murphy noted that more than 95% of government primary schools are yet to be funded to 100% of the SRS (Schooling Resource Standard).
“This should be a priority to ensure every student has at least the SRS minimum, even though the SRS itself only aims to meet national minimum standards for 80% of students,” he said. “Australia’s government primary principals believe our target should be far higher.”
Murphy said AGPPA continues to call on State and Territory governments to work together to properly fund public schools.
“The Tasmanian agreement, set to start in 2026, should be the minimum benchmark for all states. We can’t have situations where some students are fully funded while others fall short.”
‘Time is running out’
Shadow Minister for Education, Sarah Henderson, said while the Coalition backs greater support for Australia’s 6,712 public schools, the Federal Government’s “failure” to get New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, and the ACT on board the deal is of “deep concern”.
“With time running out and no new funding agreement in place for 83 per cent of public schools, Labor has failed to deliver the national school reforms it promised to raise school standards,” Senator Henderson said.
“It is time Education Minister Jason Clare resolved his school funding war so principals and teachers across the country have the certainty they deserve.”
Senator Henderson said with one in three students failing NAPLAN, parents are “crying out for a back-to-basics education” for their children where literacy and numeracy skills are prioritised, underpinned by explicit teaching and “a knowledge-rich, common sense curriculum”.
“The draft agreement requires the states and territories to implement evidence-based teaching including Year 1 phonics and numeracy checks, but says nothing about improving the national curriculum or delivering the critical reforms needed to combat classroom disruption,” she said.
“As occurred again today in senate estimates, it is regrettable Labor continues to mislead Australians about the Coalition’s school funding record when in government.”
‘Significant concerns’ remain
Australian Education Union federal president, Correna Haythorpe, said the union has two “significant concerns” with the Bill, which is still to pass through the Senate.
“Firstly, it is imperative that a full 25 per cent SRS share is reached, and the Bill should be amended to reflect this as the new floor,” Haythorpe told The Educator.
“Secondly, there is a ratchet mechanism which has been proposed to protect the SRS as it increases, however, we are yet to be convinced that this will be effective against future governments that may want to reduce funding.”
Haythorpe said the union is cautiously optimistic that its recommendations will be adopted.
“We have raised these specific concerns with the government and in our submission to the parliamentary inquiry on this legislation, which is underway now, and we hold hope that this legislation is amended to address these concerns.”