Fighting for Equity in Education
//This is an event to publicise our support for our schools. The theme is that we love our schools and would like to keep them the way they are! The event was initially for schools in the NW Belconnen cluster, but has now been widened to include all schools, preschools and colleges who want to be involved. Continue reading “The Faces of Public Education – North-West Belconnen media event”
//The Save Our Schools group said today that the Minister for Education, Andrew Barr, has failed to meet statutory obligations to provide parents with statements of reasons for schools being listed for closure.
SOS spokesperson, Dr. Ian Morgan, said that the Minister had failed to comply with the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1989, and his Government has shown contempt not only for the school parent community, but also for the Legislative Assembly and ACT law. Continue reading “Minister Fails to Meet Legal Obligations on School Closures Information”
//Jon Stanhope’s ill-tempered attack on Jane Gorrie, President of P&C Council, has all the hall-marks of a government in crisis, says Save Our Schools Canberra. Continue reading “More Signs of Government in Crisis”
//Save Our Schools Canberra spokesperson, Dr Ian Morgan, said today votes taken at the ACT Conference of the ALP over the weekend showed that the Stanhope Government was in total disarray over school closures.
“A majority of the Government voted to delay the school closure program and against the arrogance of Chief Minister Stanhope and Education Minister Barr”, said Dr Morgan.
“Clearly, we have a Government and a party which are deeply divided on these issues, a Chief Minister who is out of touch, and a Minister who is out of his depth, out of control, and now, out of action.
Continue reading “Stanhope Government in Disarray”//The Minister for Education has again been caught out with mis-information designed to mislead the public. SOS spokesperson, Dr. Ian Morgan, said that the Minister has selectively and falsely cited research on small schools, while trying unsuccessfully to clear himself of previous accusations. Continue reading “More Govt. Dishonesty on Small Schools”
//Save Our Schools Canberra today accused the ACT Treasury and the Stanhope Government of blatant dishonesty in its Budget statement on school costs.
SOS spokesperson, Dr. Ian Morgan, said that the Government and the Treasury have effectively overstated the difference in average costs between larger and small primary schools by over $7,500 per student. Continue reading “Treasury Dishonesty on School Costs Exposed”
//The Minister for Education, Mr. Andrew Barr, was caught out under forensic questioning about information on the shift to private schools in the Estimates Committee hearings on Education on 28 June.
The Minister was requested to provide information on why families transfer from the government school system to the private sector. He inadvertently revealed that the Government had not done any planning on the impact of school closures on the shift to private schools because the information on why families move has to be collated from individual schools. Continue reading “Dissembling in the Assembly”
//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”
//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”