Australian Education Union Federal President Angelo Gavrielatos has thanked members for their support so far in the campaign for better public school funding.

In a video message, Mr Gavrielatos said that over 3,000 submissions had been made to the federal review of schools funding.

“This is an outstanding response from teachers, principals, staff and parents and shows the passion and support for public education across the country,” Mr Gavrielatos said.

“There were so many powerful stories from schools about their achievements and their desire to do even better in educating our young people. Schools are doing an amazing job with limited resources and they could do significantly more with the right funding.

“The message to the funding review is clear: we must invest more in our public schools as a matter of urgency.”

The review will now consider the submissions from around the country and produce a report for the Federal Government.
Mr Gavrielatos said that the union would not sit back and wait for the findings with politicians being targeted in the next phase in the campaign.

“We must make sure that every federal politician understand the needs of students in our public schools and the need to overhaul the current funding arrangements that deliver only one third of federal funding to them,” he said.

“They must understand the need to properly resource every school and the importance of them being advocates for public schools which educate a majority of students.”

As part of the new phase, Mr Gavrielatos urged members to email the Prime Minister and their local member to let them know the importance of investing more in public schools

The AEU is hoping that the Federal Budget next month will include additional funding for public education and specifically for the education of students with disabilities.

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