Labor announces $14 billion public school funding plan if successful in next election

THOUSANDS of extra teachers will be employed in Australia’s public schools as part of a $14 billion, 10-year education plan if Labor wins the next federal election.

THOUSANDS of extra teachers will be employed in Australia’s public schools as part of a $14 billion, 10-year education plan if Labor wins the next federal election.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says this means funding for more than 13,000 extra teachers or 23,000 teacher aides, in the biggest investment in public schools in Australian history.

The coalition government has warned taxes will rise under Labor to pay for its “rehashed” education announcement.

The promise comes after the government stitched up a $4.6 billion deal for Catholic and independent schools, which felt changes to funding models had left some of them worse off.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten announced the plan today. Picture: AAP/Wayne Taylor

The federal government is tipping an extra $23.5 billion over 10 calendar years to schools from next year, which is $17 billion less than Labor had promised under the Gillard government’s original plan.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Labor can’t explain how existing education funding will be spent.

“As a parent, I want my kids to get better outcomes on their education like all parents do,” he told reporters on NSW’s Central Coast today.

Labor had already promised extra funding for Catholic schools and has now detailed what it will offer to the public sector, with $3.3 billion to flow in the three years after the election, if it wins the poll due by May next year.

“What matters to me and Labor is handing on a better deal to the next generation,” Mr Shorten said.

“That’s why I’m passionate about building an education system that gives every child in every school the best chance at life.”

.@SwannyQLD on Labor’s public school pledge: It is correct that we have to lift the quality of Australia’s educational outcomes. If we do not invest in education we will become an economic backwater.

MORE: https://t.co/n36r3huFR3 #amagenda pic.twitter.com/G1BQMh7jmS

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) October 9, 2018

As a condition of the funding, Labor would require state governments to invest strongly in schools and sign up to a national plan to improve them.

“Public schools teach two in three of all school students, and the overwhelming majority of Australia’s neediest children,” Mr Shorten said.

That includes 82 per cent of the poorest children, 84 per cent of indigenous children, and 74 per cent of children with disabilities.

The extra money will give students more individual attention and more help with the basics.

It will funded from changes to the tax system, including restrictions on negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions for housing.

Education Minister Dan Tehan said record federal funding was already going to education and he’s negotiating with the states “in good faith”.

“Only our government has a plan for guaranteed schools funding that is distributed fairly and according to need,” he said.