Both sides of politics seem to be defying public opinion when it comes to embracing the Gonski review’s recommendations for school funding.
Labor risks a legacy of underfunded public schools if it doesn’t act soon on recommendations to substantially increase recurrent funding
In the absence of government action to introduce the changes recommended by the David Gonski-led review of school funding, the Opposition remains “firmly committed” to current funding arrangements, shadow education minister Christopher Pyne told an AEU Public Education Day forum in Canberra in May
Labor’s inaction and the Coalition’s apparent unwillingness to embrace a new funding model are at odds with the public view, according to an AEU-commissioned Auspoll survey of 1,261 people in early June. The survey showed strong support for an immediate boost to public school funding.
In what was the first comprehensive survey of public opinion on the findings of the Gonski review, 88 per cent of respondents said there was an urgent need to increase public school funding.
A large majority of respondents supported action on all major recommendations contained in the review, including an injection of an additional $5 billion a year into schools.
A majority said they would be more likely to vote for a party that increased funding to public schools.
At the Public Education Day forum, Pyne acknowledged that “many areas of the school sector” welcomed the model the review panel had devised.
However, he said, “the reality is that no government has committed to its introduction or the additional funding needed to transition to the new model [and], in the absence of that commitment, we remain firmly committed to current funding arrangements so that schools can plan with certainty into the future”.
Holding children back
AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos says the poll findings show support for urgent action.
“The Gonski review found that we are holding our children back by under-investing in education and not delivering funding to the schools and students that need it most. We need our politicians to lead the way.”
Public education is at a crossroads, he says. “Either we can continue on the path we are on, with funding arrangements that are dysfunctional and ineffective or we can take a path where funding allows all students to meet their full potential. Our children shouldn’t have to wait any longer for the resources and opportunities they deserve.”
The AEU annual federal conference in February urged the Gillard government to act promptly to ensure new funding arrangements are in place by 2014.
Federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett told the Public Education Day forum the Gonski review offered an impressive blueprint for change and a way to ensure that every school is funded fairly.
“[It] represents a real advance to our current, illogical funding system and brings us closer to the vision of the great pioneers of public education.”
While listeners welcomed his statement of determination to push ahead with a timetable of legislation, there was concern about his comments that many hurdles lay ahead.
“Gonski himself points to a long list of additional work that needs to be completed before his recommendations could be turned into a concrete funding model,” said Garrett. “Work such as agreeing how the reference schools will be chosen [and] how we will count and fund students with a disability.”
Once that work is completed, the federal government needs to understand the implications for all schools and negotiate with the states, territories and non-government school sector, he said.
“We then need to pass legislation through the parliament – no small challenge when the Coalition has made clear its position that the existing system should remain as it is. At any point we could be derailed by a scare campaign that seeks to pit school against school or whip up fears about fee rises that need not occur.”
Lack of clarity
This view adds to worries about Labor’s lack of clarity on how to provide the estimated extra $5 billion of annual school funding needed to implement the Gonski recommendations.
While schools welcomed the announcement in the May federal Budget (see panel) that the Commonwealth would extend funding to the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership, there was widespread disappointment that Treasurer Wayne Swan made no mention of the Gonski recommendations.
Gavrielatos says educators are looking for a clear commitment to a fundamental overhaul of school funding that will ensure every child receives the education they deserve.
“We are at a point where a decision must be made on the future of public education in this country. It is a decision that will impact on the lives of millions of young people and substantially influence the type of society we become.”
The impact of school funding on Australia’s future is clearly spelled out in the Gonski review panel’s concerns that the performance of Australian students is slipping in comparison to that of students in comparable and neighbouring countries, and that the link between student background and educational outcome is more pronounced here than in comparable OECD nations.
This is, the panel stated, a warning that Australia “cannot take for granted that we will forever have a productive workforce and a citizenry equipped to prosper in and contribute to the rest of the world as we do now”.
Federal government inaction has already attracted criticism from two review panel members.
In May, former Western Australian premier and Keating government minister Carmen Lawrence warned that delays were giving “the forces of reaction” time to muster.
“I was disappointed the government didn’t say on day one ‘this is what we are going to do’,” she told La Trobe University’s Ideas and Society Program.
A fellow panellist, former NSW director-general of education and training Dr Ken Boston, has also expressed the need for urgent action.
Writing in The Age newspaper, he called for a public commitment from the Commonwealth, territory and states to phased implementation, beginning with hard work on the detail, the introduction of legislation this year for 2014, and a phased program for providing the necessary funds as the detailed work proceeds.
Boston told the Public Education Day forum that the changes proposed in the review held the key to halting and reversing decline in national education standards.
“We know that our national performance has steadily slipped since the year 2000 in relative terms in comparison with other countries and in absolute terms in some critical dimensions.
“We know that the increasing performance gap between the top and bottom 20 per cent of students in Australia represents an extraordinary waste of human capital… We ignore Gonski at our peril.”
One-off program an interim measure
The federal government’s announcement that it will continue to fund the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership is welcome, but should be regarded as only an interim measure, says AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos.
The federal government’s announcement that it will continue to fund the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership is welcome, but should be regarded as only an interim measure, says AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos.
“It has led to significant improvements in literacy and numeracy levels among students across the country and allowed the development and implementation of successful strategies that schools can build on.
“Around 400,000 students – most in public schools – have benefited. But much more needs to be done. The literacy levels of students in disadvantaged areas are, on average, three years of schooling behind those of the same age who live in wealthy areas.”
Gavrielatos says the uncertainty associated with one-off programs and a decline in overall student achievement levels during the past decade underline the need for fundamental reform of school funding. “The federal government must now turn its focus to the comprehensive overhaul recommended by the Gonski review.”
