‘Hypocrite’ states try to shake down feds on school funding

Sniping state education ministers have been branded ‘hypocrites’ for demanding more commonwealth cash while short-changing their own public schools.

NSW Education Minister Prue Car, left, Australian Education Union federal president Corenna Haythorpe and Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll in Canberra.

Sniping state education ministers have been branded “hypocrites’’ for demanding more commonwealth cash while short-changing their own public schools.

Labor education ministers from NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and the ACT lined up to protest alongside the Australian Education Union on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, to lobby for more federal funding for public schools.

Federal opposition education spokeswoman senator Sarah Henderson, however, said it was ­hypo­critical to demand more commonwealth cash while ­under­funding state-run schools.

NSW Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car said the states were “missing out by $1000 per student’’.

“We’ll just keep fighting until we get there. The ball is in their court; we need them to come through with extra funding.’’

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare. Picture: NewsWire / David Swift

Victorian Deputy Premier and Education Minister Ben Carroll called on the commonwealth government, “with their rivers of gold from GST (revenue)” to double the offer of an extra $16bn over 10 years. “There are students finishing year 12 today that have not had full public funding – they’ve gone from prep to year 12 without the extra dollars that would have made a world of difference to their education,’’ he said.

In the Senate, Senator Henderson blasted “Labor’s school funding fiasco’’. She said she had spoken to a teacher from a Victorian primary school that needed its roof fixed, and a teenager from Geelong High School “who’s having classrooms in a hallway’’.

“I say to Ben Carroll, please cut the hypocrisy,’’ she said of the Victorian minister. “Get your funding priorities right and fix these issues – students deserve better.’’

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has offered to boost the commonwealth’s share of funding to public schools from the longstanding 20 per cent to 22.5 per cent, at a cost of $16bn over 10 years.

In return, he wants the states to agree to higher performance targets and teaching reforms, such as the use of phonics to teach ­reading, and explicit instruction methods.

Western Australia has agreed to sign the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, and the Northern Territory has signed the deal in return for the commonwealth paying 40 per cent of public schooling costs.

The other states want the commonwealth to double its offer, even though they have failed to meet their own obligations to fund 80 per cent of schooling costs over the past decade.

Schools attract public funding based on the Schooling Resource Standard, which was set 11 years ago after business leader David Gonski recommended funding be tied to student need. State governments are supposed to meet 80 per cent of state schools funding costs, with the commonwealth paying 20 per cent, but the National School Resourcing Board’s latest public report shows that only the ACT has hit its funding target.

In 2022, Victoria contributed barely 69 per cent of funding, while Queensland contributed 70 per cent. NSW will lift its share of funding to 80 per cent next year.

Ms Car wrote to 50 federal Labor MPs this week explaining that “the ambitious Gonski reforms of 2013 shifted accountability for schools funding to the commonwealth.’’

Mr Clare on Wednesday said “there are no blank cheques’’ to the states. “I want to invest billions into our public schools, and I want to make sure that money makes a difference to the students who ­really need it,’’ he said.