Independent senators have joined the Greens to call for full funding of Australia’s public schools, which they say face a decade of underfunding if the proposed ‘Better and Fairer’ Schools Agreement goes ahead.
They are calling on the Federal Government to raise its offer to fund public schools from 22.5% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) to a minimum of 25%.
“The federal government’s offer is woefully inadequate, and it will consign another generation of young people to an underfunded education,” Greens spokesperson on Primary and Secondary Education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne said in a statement.
“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.”
Independent Senator for the ACT, Senator David Pocock said he will not support the Federal Government’s legislation on school funding.
“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,” Pocock said.
“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.”
Independent Senator for WA, Senator Fatima Payman said the Federal Government’s “glaring failure” to fully fund Australia’s public schools is not just a matter of budgetary allocation, but “a question of values and priorities.”
“By neglecting public schools, we are condemning another generation of Australian kids to an underfunded education,” Payman said. “Every child, regardless of their background, their postcode, their parents’ income, deserves a fully funded, high-quality education.”
Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie said private schools have been let down by Australia’s governments for more than a decade.
“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,” Lambie said. “But in 2024 more than half of the $29 billion government spend on schools in Australia goes to private schools.”
Lambie said it “blows her away” that Gonski – a Labor reform – still hasn’t been properly implemented by Federal Education Minister, Jason Clare.
“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.”
Jason Clare’s office has been contacted for comment.