The Greens candidate for Unley in the South Australian election, Dylan Kiernan, has provided the following response to the SOS Election Brief on education outcomes and funding in Sourth Australia.
1.Do you support full funding of South Australian public schools by 2029?
Yes. The SA Greens are committed to fully funding public education and making it genuinely free by 2029. This includes funding public schools to at least 100% of their Schooling Resource Standard, so schools have the resources they actually need to meet student learning and wellbeing needs, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
Our policy to abolish materials and services charges, subject fees and other compulsory “extras” directly supports your goal of ending hidden costs that shift the burden of underfunding onto families and teachers. By fully funding public education and eliminating these fees, we aim to remove a key barrier to participation, reduce inequality between students and ensure that no child misses out on opportunities at school because their family cannot afford it.
2.Do you support a revision of the funding agreement between the Commonwealth and South Australian governments to require the South Australian Government to increase its funding share of public schools to 75% of their SRS by 2029?
Yes. We support revising the state–Commonwealth funding agreement so that public schools in South Australia are fully funded to their SRS by 2029, with the South Australian Government contributing at least 75% and the Commonwealth at least 25%. This brings the funding arrangements into line with both your recommendations and the Greens’ broader principle that governments have primary responsibility for fairly and adequately funding public education.
For the SA Greens, this is not just a fiscal question but a matter of equity: a fair funding model is the only way to ensure that public schools can provide smaller class sizes, more specialist support, and high-quality teaching in every community. Aligning the funding agreement with a clear, needs‑based standard will help address the entrenched inequities you have highlighted between public schools and better-resourced private schools.
3.Do you support removing all special allowances in the current Commonwealth–South Australian bilateral funding agreement that allow the South Australian Government to defraud public schools by including non‑school expenditures as part of its share of the SRS?
Yes. I support removing all special allowances that permit the state to count non‑school expenditure towards its share of the SRS. This is entirely consistent with the Greens’ position that education funding must be transparent, needs‑based and directed to public schools as a public good, not distorted by loopholes or creative accounting.
Our commitment to fully funding public schools rests on real investments that reach classrooms, not on rebadging other spending. Removing these allowances would ensure that when governments say they are funding public schools to a certain level, that money is actually going into public schools. This transparency is crucial to building public trust and delivering the fair, needs‑based funding system that both SOS and the Greens want to see.
4.Do you support the new Strategy for Public Education that shows early positive gains in education outcomes by giving priority to inclusion, wellbeing and increased equity in school outcomes?
Yes. I support the Strategy for Public Education and its focus on inclusion, wellbeing and equity. These priorities align closely with Greens principles that education is a right, that outcomes should not be determined by postcode or wealth, and that schools must be places where every child feels safe, supported and able to thrive.
SA Greens policies are designed to turn those aspirations into practical reality. Our plan to fully fund public education by 2029, reduce class sizes and end teacher shortages speaks directly to the wellbeing and workload pressures facing educators, which are central to the success of any strategy to improve outcomes. Our proposal for a $50 million capital grants fund exclusively for public schools complements the Strategy’s goals by ensuring that students and staff are learning and working in safe, modern and healthy environments.
We also commit to working closely with teachers’ unions and education workers on issues like classroom safety, workload and appropriate class sizes, recognising that genuine inclusion and equity depend on properly supported teachers and support staff. These commitments sit alongside our broader Greens vision of an education system that is free, secular, anti‑racist, inclusive of disabled students, and responsive to First Nations communities and culturally diverse families.
In short, the SA Greens’ policies reinforce and build on the ambitions outlined in your Brief: a fully funded, truly public school system that prioritises equity, inclusion and student wellbeing over competition and market ideology. I would welcome any further discussion about how we can work together to secure the fair, transparent and sufficient funding our public schools deserve.