Furious political row erupts after Labor Cabinet Minister Blair Boyer accuses Liberals of ‘secret plan to cut education’ after FOI bid

An extraordinary political row has erupted over Labor’s claims education funding faces cuts under a “secret” Liberal plan.

An extraordinary political row has erupted over Labor’s claims education funding faces cuts under a “secret” Liberal plan to curb rising numbers of head office bureaucrats.

The opposition had sought details under Freedom of Information laws, of Education Department public servants with “non-teaching” backgrounds and a summary of their roles.

But in a highly unusual move before the FOI was processed, a state Cabinet minister claimed the Liberals were “laying the ground work” to swing the axe if it won next year’s poll.

This, Labor alleged, could put a recent Commonwealth deal for more schools funding in jeopardy and further fuel a teacher shortage crisis that was being felt worldwide.

Education Minister Blair Boyer’s outspoken attack sparked a furious Liberal response, which lashed his “outrageous political hit job”.

Education Minister Blair Boyer. Picture: Emma Brasier

Hon. Heidi Girolamo MLC, Sunday, March 5, 2023. Picture: Matt Loxton

After intitially failing to rule it out, opposition spokeswoman Heidi Girolamo on Sunday night said: “We have no policy to cut jobs in education and are ruling out using this (FOI) information in that way.”

Government data shows almost 600 more education public servants, without a teaching degree, have been hired since March 2022.

Non-teaching staff can include school services officer classroom assistants, allied health professionals such as occupational therapists, speech pathologists or psychologists, counsellors and administrative support officers.

Calling on the Liberals to rule out such measures, Mr Boyer said he was “hugely concerned” the opposition was “developing some secret policy to cut back what some think is the ‘woke’ and bloated education department”, which it was “neither”.

“This is laying the ground work … for budget cuts to education,” he said.

“This is so they can say they are not cutting teacher numbers but reducing the bureaucracy.”

He said department staff helped teachers “get back into the classroom and principals lead their schools” by handling reporting, data entry and other administrative tasks.

“This was literally the number one issue during the last enterprise agreement with the education union – teacher and principal workload,” he said.

He said the FOI would be processed as normal and he didn’t usually speak out before applications were finalised but “this leapt out from the page and I had to say something”.

Ms Girolamo, who lodged the FOI, said the opposition “makes no apologies for holding this government to account” .

“This Minister is clearly more preoccupied with creating a secret state, hiding documents than supporting our frontline teachers,” he said.

“If he has nothing to hide, he should follow the proper legal process and provide the... information.”

She said during a “teacher shortage crisis and unprecedented levels of violence in our schools, to have the Minister spending hours trying to spin up political hit jobs... is outrageous”.

“This is a slap in the face to teachers, students and parents across the state,” she said.

“This government will do whatever it takes to distract South Australians from its failings. “This current stunt is just another way for the Minister to avoid the fact that our teachers are at breaking point and leaving the profession in droves.”

Originally published as Furious political row erupts after Labor Cabinet Minister Blair Boyer accuses Liberals of ‘secret plan to cut education’ after FOI bid