PM snubs teachers as they call for Labor to deliver election promise for more funding

A group of teachers are still waiting to hear whether the Prime Minister will meet them as tensions over a promise to deliver a pathway to full funding for public schools heats up.

A group of teachers, parents, unions and community leaders are still waiting to hear whether the Prime Minister will meet them as tensions over a promise to deliver a pathway to full funding for public schools heats up.

Tens and thousands of postcards from people all over Australia were set to be delivered to Anthony Albanese on Monday but the Australian Education Union confirmed they were unable to secure a meeting.

“We are waiting to hear from the Prime Minister’s office about a meeting,” Australian Education Union federal president Correna Haythorpe said.

“Unfortunately he wasn’t available today but I can guarantee … we will make sure that every single postcard, all 70,000, are delivered to the Prime Minister in person.”

More than 50 AEU members will come together to deliver over 70,000 postcards to the Prime Minister calling for greater funding for public schools. Picture: Dallas Killponen / Society.

The postcards coincided with an open letter from the AEU and signed by more than fifty organisations including principal, parent, disability, community groups and unions.

It said under current arrangements only 1.3 percent of public schools are funded at the minimum level governments agreed was required more than a decade ago.

Ms Haythorpe said the current gap in the government’s share of the School Resource Standard was around $6bn.

Only the public schools in the ACT are resourced at 100 per cent of the SRS and only the NSW Government has pledged to fully fund public schools within the next five year bilateral agreement.

Negotiations are currently underway over the next four year state-federal funding deals, which were set to expire at the end of this year.

An agreement by the council of education ministers last year extended the existing deal until December 2024.

Before the election, Labor committed to develop a “pathway” to full funding. The AEU president said this must be a major component of the 2024-25 budget.

“We are waiting to see (that promise) in reality. We believe it’s time to deliver this in next year’s budget,” Ms Haythorpe said.

The grouping said it was unable, at this stage, to secure a meeting with the Prime Minister. Picture: Dallas Killponen / Society

“It should be an education budget.”

Asked if it’s not delivered if it would amount to a broken promise, the AEU boss said she will “wait and see what happens in the next few months”.

But she said educators are willing to return to parliament every sitting week until action is taken.

Trina Cleary, a public educator at ACT schools, said teachers were making a “superhuman effort” but they were stretched “unsustainably thin”.

Relief teacher Roger Amey said the current situation was failing Australians young people.

“It is a moral imperative that we fund our schools so that our kids can reach their potential,” he said.