State adopts Gonski ideas

THE world has changed too much and change takes place too fast for the continuation of the centralised, one-size-fits-all approach to running a public school system.

Right now the NSW government is working with schools to advance the most far-reaching changes to school education in the state in more than a century - changes that are going to help all our public schools meet the challenges of education well into the future.

Nothing better illustrates this than the new way we are going to fund our public schools. We are putting students at the heart of all decision-making.

The new resource allocation model is central to the Local Schools, Local Decisions reform. Under the model schools will see more of the total public school education budget and they will have more authority over how to spend it.

In NSW we are increasing the funding that goes directly to public schools to more than 70 per cent of the total public school education budget, up from the present 10 per cent.

The model takes into account the fact students and school communities are not all the same; they have different needs and will need different levels of support.

We cannot improve outcomes for individual students with an outdated cookie-cutter funding model.

The new model will provide certainty of funding for schools to employ teachers in order to adhere to the class sizes policy. No principal need worry about the cost of a teacher; principals will be able to choose teachers based on their quality and skills required to best meet the needs of their students.

The new system will also reduce red tape. I want our principals to be innovative educational leaders, free from the constraints of too much bureaucracy. Instead of hundreds of small funding buckets to be managed and reported on, schools' resource allocation will be divided into two components. The first will see money quarantined for staffing purposes only. These resources cannot be used for anything else. The remaining component will fund all other operational requirements of the school and any discretionary needs, which may include employing additional staff.

Both the resource allocation model and the Gonski report draw on the same evidence about what factors have the greatest impact on student learning, and therefore where resources need to be targeted.

The Gonski report recommended loadings for socio-economic status, Aboriginality, English language proficiency and students with disability, as well as loadings for school size and location. The resource allocation model will provide a loading for each of these factors to ensure equity for our students.

This is a funding model that is student-focused. It is simpler, fairer and transparent. And it will give schools funding stability so a small change in circumstances doesn't lead to a big change in resources.

It is the critical financial enabler of everything we are trying to achieve under Local Schools, Local Decisions: build an even better public school culture, one that promotes creativity and innovation, where the staff in our schools are willing, and supported, to try out new things.

A culture that supports a principal with ideas, energy and a willing school community, to innovate and know they'll be supported, not second-guessed by head office.

It's a big change and a long overdue recognition of the capability and professional judgment of the leaders in our schools and of the importance of local decision-making in ensuring NSW continues to have a great public school system.

The NSW government is committed to make the decisions that will benefit our students.

Adrian Piccoli is NSW Education Minister.