Education Minister Susan Close refuses to sign new Gonski school funding deal

THE Federal Treasury will not be able to give a single cent to SA schools if State Education Minister Susan Close does not sign the Gonski 2.0 agreement within seven days — but she claims it rips $210 million from the system over the next two years.

Education Minister Susan Close with Dernancourt School students (AAP Image/ Keryn Stevens)

PRIVATE schools are calling on the State Government to stand down from its fight with the Coalition over funding which is threatening to bring classrooms to a halt.

State Education Minister Susan Close is refusing to sign up to the new school funding agreement — known as Gonski 2.0 — because she claims it rips $210 million from schools over the next two years.

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said without her signature, under law, the Turnbull Government could not give SA schools a single dollar.

He said Dr Close had seven days to change her mind otherwise the Federal Treasury would not be able to hand out the funding schools needed to run for next year.

The Advertiser understands more than $600 million was due to be delivered to schools across the state on January 8 but that is now at risk.

Association of Independent Schools of SA chief executive Carolyn Grantskalns said schools and parents needed funding certainty.

“It is time to stop the squabbling between the state and federal governments over school funding,” she said.

“Like the State Government, the AISSA would prefer the Commonwealth to pay the final two years of Gonski as agreed in 2013 by the Gillard and Weatherill governments.

“That won’t happen now because different funding arrangements are in place. We must accept this and move on.

“It is time for all politicians to put the children of South Australia first.”

Senator Birmingham labelled the State Government’s decision as “reckless in the extreme”.

“December 5 is when the Federal Treasury tells me they need to have all the paperwork signed off to make sure that SA schools start getting paid in January next year,” he told ABC radio this morning.

“If the SA Government refuse to sign the very basic statement of principles that is part of the Education Act that ... is a trigger for ... the Federal Government to make payments to the different states and territories.

“If the SA Government refuses to sign them, that will in effect be the State Government denying South Australian schools access to around $1.3 billion in federal school funding next year.”

Education Minister Simon Birmingham. Picture: Tracey Nearmy/AAP

But Dr Close said if Senator Birmingham really wanted to provide funding to SA schools “he could find a way”.

“One day Senator Birmingham is saying the original Gonski deal was not funded, but then he conveniently uses figures 10 years into the future, way beyond the forward estimates, in order to suit his argument,” she said.

“It is a bit rich for Senator Birmingham to say the State Government is jeopardising money for our schools, when that is exactly what he and his colleagues in Canberra are determined to

do.”

The $210 million cut has been strenuously denied by Education Minister Simon Birmingham because it factors in money promised by the former Gillard Government which was never budgeted.

Under Gonski 2.0, which passed federal Parliament in June, SA schools stood to receive an extra $1.1 billion in federal funding over the next decade when compared with the funding levels that had committed to in the Budget.

In a letter to Senator Birmingham on Friday, Dr Close said as far as the SA Government was concerned, the only funding agreement it would adhere to was the original Gonski deal.

“I want to work constructively with the Federal Education Minister on a future agreement but I absolutely refuse to be complicit in $210 million being withheld from SA schools,” she said.

“Without the original Gonski agreement in place, all three schooling sectors in SA would suffer a massive financial loss.

“SA’s public, Catholic and independent schools are also being held to ransom by the Federal Government which has threatened to withhold $1.2 billion in funding.”

Dr Close said the Federal Government’s interim agreement of a few pages can “in no meaningful way serve as a replacement for a complex and well-constructed national schooling agreement”.

Education Minister Susan Close with Dernancourt Primary students for the launch of the 2017 road safety booklet. Picture: AAP/Keryn Stevens

Senator Birmingham slammed the Weatherill Government for its “reckless” decision which he says could stop more than $16.6 billion over 10 years flowing into SA schools.

Under federal law if SA does not agree to sign up, the Federal Government could not make payments of financial assistance under the Act in relation to any government school, non-government school, block grant authority or any non-government representative body located in the state.

“I challenge Jay Weatherill to look into the faces of children and families and explain their school isn’t getting the growing funding we’ve legislated to provide just because he would rather pick a fight with Canberra than agree to work cooperatively on boosting student outcomes,” Senator Birmingham said.

“All that is required for billions of dollars to flow is for the SA Government to sign a general statement of principles agreeing to work cooperatively with other states and territories and the Commonwealth ahead of a detailed agreement that will build in the findings of the Gonski Review when it is delivered next year.

“Being lectured to on school funding by Jay Weatherill and Susan Close lacks credibility when independent Productivity Commission data shows they slashed $56 million from government schools, even when federal funding was growing.”

Senator Birmingham reveals other Labor Governments has already signed up to the interim agreement.

Gonski 2.0 passed Parliament with the support of the Nick Xenophon Team, One Nation and independent senators Lucy Gichuhi, Derryn Hinch and Jacqui Lambie.

But the deal was condemned by Labor, the Greens, the Australian Education Union and the National Catholic Education Commission.

Throughout the debate, federal and state Labor argued the new deal was an upfront cut to the funding that was promised under the Gillard version of the funding model.

The AEU and the National Catholic Education Commission maintain they would be better off under 27 separate deals struck by the Gillard government.

But the Turnbull Government said that funding was never budgeted for and their plan increased funding in real terms year on year. It also meant there were no sweetheart deals for specific states or sectors, ensuring all students were provided with the equivalent funding.