SOS Australia

A basic flaw of Gonski 2.0 is that it abandons developing a national approach to school funding. Instead, it entrenches the structural incoherence of school funding so heavily criticised in the original Gonski report. It will only enhance inconsistencies in funding and ensure that the school funding wars between the Commonwealth and the States continue.

Continue reading “Gonski 2.0 Entrenches Structural Incoherence and Inequity in School Funding”

The Turnbull Government’s Gonski 2.0 funding plan is a fraud. It is a fraud because it delivers much less funding to public schools and much more for private schools than Gonski 1.0. It is a fraud because public schools will remain under-funded while private schools will be well-funded. It is a fraud because there will be a massive increase in over-funding of private schools. Private schools will get a new, grander, special deal which is disguised by reducing over-funding in the most blatant cases. It is the best special deal that private schools have ever had. Gonski 2.0 is a fraud also because abandons any effort to develop a truly national school funding system while claiming to be a national approach. Continue reading “Gonski 2.0 is a Fraud”

In an outrageous move, the Minister for Education, Simon Birmingham, has threatened to cut funding to public schools if Gonski 2.0 is not passed by the Senate. The threat covers public schools in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory while private schools in these states will be guaranteed their funding. Continue reading “Birmingham Holds Funding for Public Schools to Ransom”

The indexation of Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) against rising school costs is critical for school budgets because it is a central feature of Commonwealth Government funding of schools. If the rate of indexation fails to match increasing costs such as teacher salaries, educational materials and utility charges such as water and electricity, school budgets will be squeezed. Schools will not be able to afford the same level of human and material inputs as they have in past years. Continue reading “Indexation of the Schooling Resource Standard Should be Reviewed by an Independent Expert Panel”

The Turnbull Government has done a back-flip on its promise to abolish all special funding deals for private schools. The Commonwealth Department of Education has announced that the special funding deal for ACT Catholic systemic schools will be maintained for another four years as a “temporary” assistance package. It will cost the taxpayer about $200 million. It took only four weeks for the Government to cave in to Catholic school demands to keep their massive over-funding.

Catholic systemic schools in Canberra are vastly over-funded by the Commonwealth Government. In 2016, the over-funding amounted to $50 million. Several schools are over-funded by more than $4 million each. Two schools are getting over four times what they are entitled to and several others are getting over double their entitlement. Several receive $5,000 per student or more in over-funding.

Continue reading “Special Over-Funding Deal for ACT Catholic Systemic Schools to Continue”