States demand more federal funding for public schools

State governments and teacher unions are piling pressure on the Albanese government to double its planned $3bn in bonus funding to public schools.

State and federal governments are fighting over who should pay for catch-up tutoring for struggling students.

State governments and teacher unions are piling pressure on the Albanese government to double its planned $3bn in bonus funding to public schools.

Catholic schools on Wednesday also put their hands out for extra taxpayer spending on new schools and classrooms, as Victoria, NSW and Queensland demanded a better deal in the wake of the commonwealth’s first ­reform-based funding offer to Western Australia.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare on Wednesday vowed to make the extra money “glow in the dark’’ to ensure that state governments spent it on reforms to train and retain more teachers, improve student learning and stop children dropping out of school.

“I also want taxpayers’ money to glow in the dark and go toward reforms that will help students catch up, keep up and finish school,’’ he said. “I want to make sure the money is tied to the things that work.

“It’s about early identification of children who are falling behind … things like a phonics test in year one, a maths test in year one.’’

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare wants schools to spend taxpayers’ money on early intervention to help struggling students. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Tertius Pickard

Mr Clare has offered to raise the commonwealth share of public school funding in WA from 20 per cent to 22.5 per cent, at a cost of $777.4m in four years. WA will match the commonwealth increase, so $1.6bn in extra taxpayer funding flows into WA’s state schools between 2025 and 2029.

WA Education Minister Tony Buti on Wednesday said he was “very enthusiastic’’ about using the extra $777.4m in federal funding to pay for remedial teaching.

He also plans to link more schools with allied health services, including free psychologists and speech therapists “to help staff and students’’.

Victoria, NSW and Queensland on Wednesday said they would be seeking twice the slice of federal funding handed to WA.

Backed by teacher unions, they want the Albanese government to lift its share of state school funding from 20 per cent to 25 per cent to fill the shortfall in needs-based “Gonski funding’’ promised more than a decade ago.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said her state would continue to push for a 5 per cent increase but did not say whether Victoria would match the money dollar-for-dollar.

“WA, for their own reasons, have struck their own arrangements with the federal government,” she said.

“Victoria’s position is very clear. We expect our fair share.”

NSW Education Minister and Deputy Premier Prue Car said state governments were “facing unprecedented pressure to continue to provide world-class ser­vices to a growing population’’.

She said NSW would spend an extra $475m to meet 75 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard funding by 2025 but the federal government should pay the rest.

“It remains our view, and the view of most other states, that the commonwealth provide the remaining 5 per cent to help fund our schools at an appropriate level into the future,’’ she said.

NSW Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car wants the federal government to fund 25 per cent of the cost of running public schools. Picture: NCA Newswire /Gaye Gerard

A spokesman for Queensland Education Minister Di Farmer said the federal government should pay 25 per cent of the cost of public schooling rather than the 22.5 per cent on offer.

“Queensland schools and teachers provide some of the most geographically dispersed and remote learning anywhere in Australia,’’ he said.

“We need our fair share so school students can grow, learn and thrive, no matter where they live.’’

The SRS is an estimate of how much public funding a school needs to meet its students’ educational needs, based on businessman David Gonski’s funding review in 2011. Schools are paid a base amount, plus six loadings based on students’ socio-economic background.

The ACT is the only jurisdiction to meet its Gonski targets, with most states falling 5 per cent short and the Northern Territory missing 20 per cent of the required funding.

Australian Education Union president Correna Haythorpe said state, federal and territory governments must fill the entire $6.8bn a year gap in Gonski funding.

She said the WA deal had “short-changed’’ schools by letting the state government soak up 4 per cent of SRS funding on capital depreciation, school buses and administration costs.