A national tour and advertising blitz begins today as part of the final phase of a campaign for better funding for public schools.

The tour will start in Brisbane in a campaign bus that will be visiting schools for meetings and forums with parents and teachers in Queensland, NSW, the ACT and Victoria.

It starts at the same time as new polling conducted exclusively for the Australian Education Union found overwhelmingly support for additional funds for public schools.

In a national poll of over 4,000 people:

• 70 per cent of people said the Federal Government was not investing enough in public schools.
• A majority of people said investing more in public schools to lower class sizes and deliver more individual attention should be the top government priority in education.
• 59 per cent said the Federal Government should consider additional public school funding as an urgent issue that needs immediate attention.
• 70 per cent said that most or all new federal education funds should go to public schools.

AEU Federal President Angelo Gavrielatos said the poll showed the groundswell of public support for an overhaul of the way schools are resourced and a greater investment in public schools.

“Sometime in the next month, the Federal Government will release the results of the independent Gonski review of schools funding and their response,” he said.

“More than ever our future depends on the education of our children. This is an opportunity to invest in our future - to ensure that every child has access to the highest quality public schools in their local community.

“We know investing more in public schools is the only way to ensure quality and equity in education.

“This is a once in a generation chance to get school funding right and put in place fairer arrangements for our future. We need to replace the current system that is broken and is making it harder to ensure that every child can get a great education.”

The campaign will also feature television and newspaper advertising. The TV ads began showing nationally last night.
The public school bus will tour Brisbane this week with a series of school meetings and events lined up. People on board the bus include representatives of the AEU and the peak parents group, the Australian Council of State School Organisations.

The bus will then travel to NSW and Canberra next week and Victoria the following week. National campaign days will be held in Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia in early March.

Mr Gavrielatos said it was the last chance for people who supported better public school funding to have their say before the release of the independent Gonski review and the Federal Government’s response.

Further information on the bus trip and the TV advertisements are available at www.forourfuture.org.au