Parties duel with education spending commitments

NSW Labor will commit $400m to establishing an Education ­Future Fund if elected in March, while the Perrottet government will spend $253m funding free ­tutoring for thousands of school students in a bid to “supercharge learning”.

Both the NSW government and opposition have committed to spending on education if elected in March. Picture: iStock

NSW Labor will commit $400m to establishing an Education ­Future Fund if elected in March, while the Perrottet government will spend $253m funding free ­tutoring for thousands of school students in a bid to “supercharge learning”.

The duelling education announcements come just 54 days out from the state election, with Labor leader Chris Minns also announcing he would make the government’s Covid-era tutoring program permanent to help 18,000 struggling students catch up by the end of 2023.

Labor’s $400m fund will be used to invest in more teachers and school counsellors and to extend the government’s existing literacy and numeracy tutoring program; the Coalition’s commitment will also be used to extend tutoring classes for students who fell behind during Covid lockdowns.

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Simon Bullard

Mr Minns said under a Labor government, he would ensure the projected 5 per cent School Resource Standard funding gap – an estimate of how much public funding a school needs to meet its students‘ educational needs – would be covered to ensure there was no shortfall. “Under Labor, schools will be fully funded; we’ll have more teachers in classrooms, kids off their devices and focusing on their learning.

“I’m determined to end the war on teachers and attract and keep them,” he said.

Under Labor’s proposed model, a $400m injection would push NSW to the 75 per cent of the SRS by 2025 – two years ahead of schedule. The remaining top-up was expected after the education agreement came up for renegotiation with the commonwealth after the current deal expires in December 2024.

Under the proposed SRS funding model, the federal government will provide 20 per cent of SRS for public schools, with the states to provide 75 per cent, leaving a 5 per cent funding gap.

The Australian understands NSW Labor has committed to covering the remainder if the commonwealth does not agree to cover the gap. When the state’s public school system would reach 100 per cent SRS remains to be determined.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet will announce the $253m boost on Monday, funding catch-up classes for students who fell behind during the pandemic, flagging small-group tutoring by trainee and retired teachers might become a permanent feature of NSW public schooling, given its success in the past two years. “It’s a no-brainer to boost funding for this coming school year, so thousands more students continue to benefit,’’ he said.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Swift

The NSW government’s Intensive Learning Support Program was established in 2021 to help students set back by extensive time spent away from classrooms. Funding for the initiative is expected to expire at the end of the year.

Under the government’s model, the tutoring uses trainee teachers, fresh graduates and retired teachers to work alongside classroom teachers.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said a recent evaluation of the ISLP showed that student confidence and engagement had soared 80 per cent as a result of small-group tutoring at school. Students are taken aside in groups of two to five children, three to five times a week during class time, and given help to improve their literacy and numeracy.

So far, 350,000 students have benefited from the catch-up classes, at a cost of $700m since the start of the pandemic.

In a new report released last night, the Grattan Institute said that small-group tuition could help children catch up on four months of learning each year.

“The economic and social benefits of getting this right are huge, because people who do well at school have access to a broader range of opportunities and go on to earn more,” report co-author and Grattan Institute Education Program Director Jordana Hunter said.

“If one in five students received high-quality small-group tuition in 2023, they could collectively earn an extra $6 billion over their lifetimes.”