NT government announces surprise $100m in 2024 education budget

The NT’s education union leader has praised a surprise bonus in this year’s budget, with high hopes the extra cash will be used to build and upgrade classrooms.

Territory’s education budget will reach a record breaking $1.34bn. Picture: Supplied.

An unexpected bonus in the 2024 Education budget will likely be used to deliver welcome infrastructure upgrades to NT schools.

Australian Education Union NT branch president Michelle Ayres said the extra $100m - which rounded the Territory government’s total schooling budget to $890m - was great news.

Australian Education Union NT president Michelle Ayres.

Ms Ayres said the funding would sit alongside the NT and federal government’s joint billion-dollar boost to NT public schools.

“The money that was announced back in March... that is meant for resources for schools rather than infrastructure,” she said.

“We [would] need to see more funding announced beside it for capital upgrades.”

Ms Ayres said she understood that’s where the additional $100m in the budget would step in.

She said educational infrastructure was just as important as resourcing schools, particularly in the midst of a teacher shortage.

“We can only put on so many teachers, but then we’ve got to have somewhere to put them to teach.”

CLP vows to fine, income manage parents whose kids skip school

The Opposition has vowed to fine or income manage parents who let their children skip school if elected, claiming it would help to tackle youth crime.

It comes as federal and Territory Labor governments committed a record breaking $1.34bn to education in this year’s budget, bringing public schools up to full funding standards for the first time.

The investment, slightly more than promised when federal cabinet visited town last month, sees the education budget for NT public schools increasing to $890m, up by $100m from last year.

Chief Minister Eva Lawler, Education Department CEO Karen Weston and Education Minister Mark Monaghan. Picture: Fia Walsh.

From 2025 NT school funding will swap to being based on enrolment, rather than attendance – a model that has been widely criticised for resulting in underfunding to disadvantaged schools.

Education Department chief executive Karen Weston said the funding model change was “a great decision”, and, with a predicted cost of $80m to $100m each year, was only possible thanks to the boosted budget.

“It will allow us to employ more Aboriginal staff in our schools that will help children feel safe and want to come to school,” Ms Weston said.

“There are a whole lot of things that the funding will provide that will make learning much more interesting in our schools, and relevant for our young people.”

The Country Liberal Party says there must be a stronger approach to addressing chronic non-attendance, promising a return of truancy officers and consequences for parents whose children are repeatedly not at school.

“It is against the law to not send your child to school,” CLP Education Spokeswoman Jo Hersey said.

Ms Hersey said a CLP government would work with truancy officers and families to figure out the reasons kids skip school – but provided scant details of what reasons would spare them from more punitive consequences.

“We’re not talking about parents who aren’t sending their kids to school on just one or two days,” she said.

“We’re not talking about families that are going fishing, or mustering, we’re talking about parents who are failing to meet the rights of a child to education.”

Ms Hersey welcomed the funding boost for schools, but said she would like to see some of the money put towards community safety, arguing improving crime rates was key for teacher recruitment and retention.

“What I’m hearing is teachers won’t be coming to the regions if they don’t feel safe,” she said.

Shadow Education Minister Jo Hersey and Chief Minister Eva Lawler.

Chief Minister Eva Lawler said truancy officers and penalties for families had been tried and failed in the Territory.

“How much do you fine a parent for not sending a kid to school? And then how do you get that money out of that parent? Does it change the behaviour of that child? Those things have all been done in the Territory, and the CLP need to do their research around that,” she said.

“There has to be sticks and carrots around attendance, but with the CLP you get a one dimensional view – any teacher, any principal, particularly those in the remote schools, will tell you about how hard it is to get a kid to school.”

The $1.34bn funding will be split 60-40 between Territory and federal governments, and will start to flow into classrooms from 2025.

The government said Territorians can expect to see more school resources, improved infrastructure such as classrooms, better teaching and learning conditions, and more programs to help students catch up, and finish school.

Thirty-four million dollars will also be invested over three years, and $2.5m ongoing from 2027-2028 to overhaul the outdated Student Administration and Management System.

A new Education Management System will provide more streamlined and accurate records of student enrolment, attendance and performance.