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Media Release
State Governments must reveal schools funding
16 October 2007
The Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, today called on State Labor Governments to reveal how much funding is provided to State Government schools, after releasing a report from the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) that called for an overhaul in funding arrangements.
“There can be no rational debate about schools funding until State Labor Governments reveal the level of funding providing to individual schools, and the reasons why some schools are neglected while others receive significant resources,” Minister Bishop said.
“The report from the APPA supports previous evidence from the Howard Government’s Investing in Our Schools Programme, which uncovered chronic neglect of State Government schools.”
“Because of the variability and complexity of funding arrangements, and because of the political sensitivity of school funding issues, education authorities do not disclose the total amounts of income and expenditure for individual schools in their jurisdictions. Hence, there is no database from which a member of the public can compare the total level of funding for one school with another. In the absence of individual school data, policy analyses are reliant on average income and expenditure data that have been computed by dividing the income and expenditure of schools by the number of schools. Reliance on averages reached in this way precludes an examination of whether the schools with the greatest need actually receive the most government support.”
In the Balance: the future of Australia’s Primary Schools Page 13
Minister Bishop said the report also identifies problems with literacy and numeracy in the later years of primary school, which is disappointing after the Howard Government provided State Labor Governments with $1.8 billion from 2005-2008 specifically to focus on raising standards in literacy and numeracy.
“This reinforces the need for the Howard Government’s National Tutor Programme, which will provide parents with support to purchase individual tutoring if their child fails to reach minimum benchmarks in next year’s National Literacy and Numeracy tests,” Minister Bishop said.
For further information, please see the report: In the balance: the future of Australia’s primary schools
Media Contacts:
Ms Bishop’s Office: Murray Hansen 0417 886 155
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