Public school chiefs push Labor for more funding at AEU forum

Australia is set for a return to public-private school class wars under a Labor government, as Anthony Albanese was urged to “stop wasting public funds on schools that don’t need it”.

Less money for wealthy private schools, more workers’ rights and more Aboriginal voices in decision-making sit atop a wishlist for the new Labor government from ­unions and educators.

Australia is set for a return to the public-private school class wars of previous Labor governments, with funding for public education the headline topic at an Australian Education Union forum Thursday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the forum that the “dawn of a new federal Labor government is a great time to acknowledge and ­emphasise the importance of public education”.

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe said workers “urge the new Labor government to prioritise public education funding and policy reform and to establish clear timelines for the delivery of Labor’s public education election commitments”.

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says workers ‘urge the new Labor government to prioritise public education funding and policy reform’.

Her comments come as new figures show the full extent of the Morrison government’s 2020 JobKeeper funding for private schools in Victoria. A total of 102 independent schools received a combined $281m, with each school receiving an average of $2.7m.

Fifty-two of these schools posted an increase in their recurrent funding that year, even though JobKeeper was ­designed to prop up struggling businesses through the ­pandemic.

Southern Cross University Professor of Education Pasi Sahlberg addressed the AEU forum, saying money needed to be spent “on schools that ­really need it”.

“We need to stop wasting public funds on schools that don’t need it. Why give $100m to independent schools that don’t need it when public schools are underfunded?” he told the Herald Sun.

A letter signed by 24 community organisations released Friday has called on Mr Albanese to ensure all public schools get 100 per cent of their government funding allocation and establish a capital fund.

Southern Cross University Professor of Education Pasi Sahlberg says money needs to be spent ‘on schools that really need it’.

AEU analysis suggests Victorian schools are underfunded by nearly $2000 per student, money which would allow schools to employ an average of 12 more teachers and reduce average class sizes by five students.

Other speakers at the forum laid out the direction they wish the new government to take.

ACTU head Sally McManus said there was “a big ­opportunity for the union movement to make big changes” on workers’ rights.

Dyonne Anderson, president of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Postgraduates Association, said there was a need to have “Aboriginal voices at the heart of the research and policy­making”.

Trevor Cobbold from the Save our Schools lobby group said Labor “went to the election without an agenda for public schools despite them being underfunded by ­billons”.

“Labor has to step up for public schools,” Mr Cobbold said.