Fighting for Equity in Education
Author: sosaustralia
//The Save Our Schools group says that the two weeks of school closure consultations and the Budget Estimates hearings have shown that the Government’s figures are in tatters.
SOS spokesperson, Dr. Ian Morgan, said that the Stanhope Government has failed to make critical savings data available and it has been forced to admit that other figures are fundamentally flawed and now has to revise them. Continue reading “School Closure Figures in Tatters”
//The dispute between the ACT Government and teachers is getting worse!
The 6 June Budget, crafted by Chief Minister and Treasurer Jon Stanhope, took the knife to jobs and services across the ACT public sector. The public school system was not immune from the knife as the ACT Government targeted cuts of at least 120 teaching positions in secondary schools, 15 teaching positions in primary schools and 10 itinerant staff across the system. It also flagged the loss of 90 support staff in the education bureaucracy. The announcement of 39 potential preschool and school closures has sent many school communities into a fury, and the ad hoc and destructive nature of many of the proposals has been scrutinised in the media and at public meetings. Continue reading “Public Education Under Attack”
//Towards the end of the “consultation” meetings, the Stanhope Government has already been forced to admit that its figures on the school closure proposals are fundamentally flawed. Continue reading “Stanhope’s school closures figures are already in tatters”
////Planning on going to a community forum? -– bring your own megaphone -– the microphones never work!
Don’t get too exited though, even if your question is heard, it doesn’t mean it will be answered.
Some very good questions and concerns were raised at the community forum at Copland College on Monday evening, unfortunately we heard not much more than the rhetoric that has abounded in all of the government documentation on 2020 so far.
Continue reading “Who is counting the numbers?”//The ACT Government’s savings estimates from school closures have been challenged by a leading expert in public finance. Ian McAuley, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Sector Finance at the University of Canberra, says that the figures presented by the Government are unduly narrow and ignore costs that will be borne by the community. Continue reading “Govt. Figures Challenged by Public Finance Expert”
//The Stanhope Government has broken two specific election commitments in the ACT Budget. Despite promises of no school closures, it proposes to close nearly 25% of preschools and schools. Despite an election commitment of $12 million to increase numbers of teachers in high schools, the Budget means the loss of around 160 teachers. Continue reading “Stanhope betrays government schools”
//New figures show that, adjusted for inflation, government funding for private schools has increased since 2009, while funding for public schools has been cut. National Convenor of Save Our Schools, Trevor Cobbold, said that the new figures reveal the disastrous state of funding for public schools. Continue reading “Media Release: Funding for Public Schools Down, Funding for Private Schools Up”