School Funding Agreements: PV Media Release

School Funding Agreements:
A welcome step, but the big questions remain

Parents Victoria has cautiously welcomed the School Funding Agreements made recently between the Federal Government and Victoria and South Australia.

Parents Victoria Chief Executive Officer Gail McHardy said, “We commend the Victorian State Government for standing firm on its demand that the Federal Government increase its contribution to 25% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). However, many questions and concerns remain about the outcomes this Agreement will deliver in the real world of Victorian classrooms.”

Among Parents Victoria’s questions and concerns are:

• Why will it take 10 years before schools are fully funded? We need to remember that the SRS was the minimum goal for school funding recommended by the Gonski Review, and that the Review was published back in 2011. Public schools have already waited long enough! As Oskar from the Victorian Student Representative Council put it, “only students who are enrolled in Prep, grade 1 and grade 2 in 2025 will experience its full impact by the time the funding is implemented” as the full funding amount will not be in place until 2034.
• The long delay also raises the possibility of this Agreement being watered down or revoked if there is a change of government or other political changes. They say a week is a long time in politics – 10 years is an eternity!
• We do not yet have full details of exactly how the funds will flow year-by-year over the next 10 years. Will schools in all states and territories be funded to 100% of the SRS by 2034?
• What strings are attached to the funding increases in the Agreement?
  Until we have full details, the question remains unanswered.
• We welcome the removal of the “accounting trick” whereby the State can count depreciation costs as 4% of its contribution, but again we await full details of the replacement for this provision – that it will be “replaced with 4% of recurrent funding on eligible expenses”.
• Why can’t a country as wealthy as Australia fund its public schools properly? The Gonski Review told us what schools need to do their job, why can’t we provide it?

Equity in school education is one of the best investments a society can make, and it should be a top priority for any government committed to a brighter future.

Finally we would like to echo comments made by economist Trevor Cobbold, National Convenor of Save Our Schools. In a recent interview, Trevor said:

“At least those new agreements offer a real prospect of fully funding public schools, but it’s not until 2034.

“I mean, that’s another 10 years of underfunding, basically. Public schools are just up against it.”

Parents Victoria will continue to campaign for 100% SRS funding for all Australian public schools as soon as possible.

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