States take aim at Albanese Government for ‘sidestepping’ education ministers in school funding talks
Furious state education ministers have accused the Albanese Government of “playing games” with school funding by trying to go around them to lock down a deal they claim is woefully inadequate.
Furious state education ministers have accused the Albanese Government of “playing games” with school funding by trying to go around them to lock down a deal they claim is woefully inadequate.
The stalled money talks are threatening to derail a landmark agreement that would also tie extra federal cash to states delivering better results in classrooms and more support for teachers.
NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT ministers have accused federal Education Minister Jason Clare of going against the “spirit of intergovernmental co-operation” by distributing a new draft funding agreement directly to treasurers in an apparent attempt to sidestep his unhappy education counterparts.
In a letter to Mr Clare, seen by The Daily Telegraph, the state education ministers have raised their concerns about the draft presented to treasurers, warning they “still have outstanding concerns that appear to not yet be resolved”.
The ministers have also asked for an additional meeting to be scheduled in August to finalise the proposed deal before the current National School Reform Agreement expires at the end of 2024.
While the Commonwealth has struck funding agreements with Western Australia and the Northern Territory, it is at an impasse with the remaining states who want the federal government to increase its share of public school funding from 20 to 25 per cent.
Mr Clare has offered to lift the federal share of schools funding to 22.5 per cent, which would be worth $5.74 billion over the next five years and $16.12 billion across the decade.
The states want another $12 billion over 10 years.
NSW Education Minister Prue Car said the idea states were not chipping in was “preposterous”.
“NSW has just lifted its commitment from 72 per cent to 75 per cent in 2025 – an additional $480 million into our schools.
“NSW, along with almost every other state, believes the Commonwealth has the capacity to provide the remaining 5 per cent to help fund our schools to the appropriate levels.
“The Commonwealth needs to stop playing games and step up.”
SA Education Minister Blair Boyer said it was “not helpful to try and sideline education ministers”.
“State and Territory Governments run schools and are best positioned to determine what families, students and teachers need in classrooms,” he said
“We all want better outcomes for children and young people across the country, and the best way to do that is to work together towards a solution.”
Queensland Education Minister Di Farmer said every student deserved a “first-class education,” which meant 100 per cent funding as recommended under the original Gonski reforms.
“We have more disadvantaged schools in regional, remote and rural communities than anywhere in the nation,” she said.
“We stand with almost every other state that the Commonwealth should fund 25 per cent of the (national agreement).”
NSW Education Minister Prue Car said the federal government needed to “stop playing games and step up”.
Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll said the Commonwealth was continuing to “short-change” Australians kids, while states did the “heavy lifting” when it came to public school funding.
He said the current offer did not come “close” to the required 5 per cent increase, and instead was “burdening our teachers with more reporting and less time to spend with kids”.
“The Commonwealth needs to rethink its priorities – until then, we’re standing with our state colleagues across the country to fight for a better deal that won’t leave our public school students and staff behind.”
On Wednesday Mr Clare will unveil the details of the next Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, which ties new funding to reforms to help lift outcomes for kids, such as a Year 1 phonics check and incentives to hire and retain teachers.
The ten-year agreement, which only NT and WA have signed up to, includes a range of targets including that the proportion of students leaving school with a Year 12 Certificate increases by about 8 per cent to 83.8 per cent by 2030.
There will also be a transparency dashboard where states and territories will be required to report how much additional money was being invested into reform areas.
A spokesman for Mr Clare said state treasurers had asked for the draft agreement to be circulated before the education ministers signed up, which was “a standard process”.
“Education Ministers went through a page turn of the agreement last month and jurisdictions have had the agreement for weeks,” he said.
“This agreement was developed in collaboration with all jurisdictions.”
The spokesman said states and territories would have until the end of September to indicate if they would sign up.
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Originally published as States take aim at Albanese Government for ‘sidestepping’ education ministers in school funding talks
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