Labor has joined with the Coalition to lock in public school underfunding for a decade
Greens primary and secondary education spokesperson and former public school teacher Senator Penny Allman-Payne gives Labor a serve for breaking its election promise to full fund public schools.
The Greens will campaign on public school funding at the federal election and push a future minority Labor government to deliver 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard to all public schools, after Labor’s funding bill passed the Senate last night.
The Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024 keeps the legislated Commonwealth share of public school funding at 20% – not the 25% teacher unions and experts have called for – and allows the states to continue claiming 4% in non-classroom costs as part of their contributions.
The bill guarantees that 98% of Australian public schools will remain below the bare minimum funding level for the next decade, condemning another generation of kids to an under-resourced education and widening the gap between the private and public systems.
Both the Government and Coalition voted against Greens amendments to raise the Commonwealth share of public school funding – even to the 22.5% level that Labor has said is its own policy.
While the bill falls well short of delivering full funding to all public schools, the Greens decided to support the legislation to lock in desperately needed Commonwealth support for the long-neglected NT school system, and to safeguard against cuts under a potential Dutton government. But the party has signalled it will push Labor to go much further in the next parliament.