Anthony Albanese unveils $1bn plan to save the Northern Territory’s failing school system

At least $1bn in extra taxpayer funding will be poured into NT schools as governments work to remedy the third-world levels of Indigenous disadvantage exposed through the failed voice poll.

The Albanese government will hand the NT an extra $738m over the next five years, doubling its share of funding to cover 40 per cent of running costs for public school.

More than $1bn will be spent to educate struggling Aboriginal students and give teachers a pay rise, as the federal government doubles its funding for the Northern Territory’s failed schooling system.

The Albanese government will hand the NT an extra $738m over the next five years, doubling its share of funding to cover 40 per cent of running costs for public schools.

The Australian’s NT Schools in Crisis investigation last year revealed remote Indigenous schools running without power, water or registered teachers and a funding shortfall of $214m a year.

The NT government will boost its spending by least $350m between 2025 and 2029 to make students “job ready’’ when they finish school.

The extra taxpayer funding is being poured into NT schools as both governments work to remedy the third-world levels of Indigenous disadvantage exposed through the failed voice referendum.

Funding will flow to the most disadvantaged schools first, with the money spent on pay rises for teachers, smaller class sizes and technology to aid teachers in far-flung communities.

NT Education Minister Mark Monaghan said the extra money would make “an immediate difference in our schools”.

The school funding deal, to be signed as a “statement of intent’’ on Wednesday, is the federal government’s second Indigenous policy intervention this week, following its $4bn pledge with the Territory government to build homes for 10,000 people in remote communities.

Anthony Albanese and Education Minister Jason Clare. Picture: David Swift

Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday his government was “committed to making sure that no Australian child is left behind’’.

“Every young person, no matter where they live or their circumstances, deserves to have the best start to life,’’ the Prime Minister said. “Access to a world class education is critical to that. Equality and education go hand-in-hand, however access to quality education has been out of reach for many in the Northern Territory.’’

The federal and NT governments have yet to agree on how the money will be spent, although federal Education Minister Jason Clare is pushing to boost school attendance rates, improve literacy and numeracy, enhance student wellbeing and support teachers working in some of the nation’s toughest classrooms.

Decades of chronic truancy, underfunding, a bloated bureaucracy and teaching shortages have left Aboriginal students in the NT lagging years behind non-­Indigenous children in cities.

A typical Aboriginal child starting high school has the reading ability of a non-Indigenous Year 3 student in primary school nationally, based on the latest NAPLAN (National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy) tests.

Indigenous school attendance rates are just 59 per cent in the NT, up to Year 10, while non-­Indigenous students in the Territory attend school 89 per cent of the time. Absenteeism is so rife that nearly 80 per cent of Aboriginal children in the NT missed at least a month of lessons last year – double the absentee level of non-Indigenous children.

Two-thirds of Aboriginal children in the NT fail to finish Year 12, and are twice as likely to drop out of high school as non-Indigenous students. One in four Indigenous students drops out of school before finishing the mandatory level of Year 10, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.

NT Education Minister Eva Lawler.

Voice architect Noel Pearson has linked poor literacy to rising crime rates among Aboriginal youth, and called on schools to use “explicit instruction’’ methods of step-by-step lessons to keep children engaged and ensure they learn.

Under the agreement announced on Tuesday, the two governments will fund every school to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard by 2029 – two decades earlier than under current funding deals. Mr Clare hailed it as a historic day for education in the NT. He said public schools in the Territory currently received less than 80 per cent of the needs-based funding that was recommended by business leader David Gonski more than a decade ago.

“One in five kids are not receiving funding,’’ Mr Clare said. “This agreement fixes that … the most underfunded schools in Australia will now be fully funded.’’

NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler said the money would give more resources to schools and teachers to help Territory kids be better equipped to enter the workforce.

“We’re working to strengthen every aspect of our education system so our kids are work-ready,’’ Ms Lawler said,

The federal government will demand that educational reforms and targets – such as improved literacy and better links between schools and health services – be tied to its 40 per cent funding contribution. The federal government now funds 20 per cent of operational costs in state and territory public schools.

It has offered to boost its share of funding to 22.5 per cent in Western Australia from next year, tied to a 10-year National School Reform Agreement.

Other states are insisting the federal government lift its share of funding to 25 per cent.

The extra federal funding cannot be spent on classrooms and refurbishment, as it only covers operational costs such as teacher salaries, books and technology.

The money comes on top of $40.4m handed to 46 remote schools in Central Australia in last year’s federal budget.

Aboriginal students make up 39.5 per cent of school students in the NT, compared with 6.5 per cent nationally.