PV welcomes School Saving Bonus

Parents Victoria issued a media release yesterday, welcoming the State Budget announcement of a $400 School Saving Bonus for all parents at public schools.

Our CEO Gail McHardy was also interviewed on ABC Radio Melbourne about the bonus payment.

You can listen to Gail’s interview on the ABC website (skip to 2 hours 20 minutes).

Gail’s comments were also quoted in an article on the Education Review website.

Here’s the text of the media release:

Media Release – 7 May 2024

Parents welcome School Saving Bonus

Statewide parent body Parents Victoria has welcomed the new School Saving Bonus payment to parents, announced in today’s State Budget.

Parents Victoria Chief Executive Officer Gail McHardy said, “This new $400 payment will be very welcome to families struggling with cost-of-living increases. The extra support for school costs will allow families to re-allocate money to other household expenses.”

Parents Victoria also makes the following points:

• All families are affected by cost-of-living increases, so we support the decision to make the payment available to all parents at public schools.
• Questions have been asked about the capacity of schools to administer the payments. We point out that schools already facilitate the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) payments for eligible families in schools, so they are equipped to handle that process.
• We also welcome the tripling of the funding for the Glasses for Kids program, supporting eye testing and prescription glasses for Prep to Year 3 students. This is a highly successful program and directly supports children’s learning.
• We await more detail on exactly what school costs the school saving bonus can be used for – for example, can it offset the cost of digital devices? Other education and community service stakeholders will no doubt also seek further clarifications where needed.

Download the media release