Every state and territory except the NT and WA has refused to sign the Federal Government’s new school funding deal — the “Better and fairer schools agreement”.
The Government announced its “Better and Fairer Schools Agreement” on Wednesday —
outlining planned funding and education reforms for Australian schools over the next decade.
However, NSW, Victoria, SA, Tasmania, Queensland, and the ACT have rejected the proposal and are calling for more support.
Background
Schools receive a combination of Federal and State Government funding. The Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) is the minimum funding a school needs to operate.
A report from the Australian Education Union (AEU) found around 1% of public schools were meeting the SRS in 2023. This is compared to 98% of private schools.
The union has been calling for “100% funding for 100% of schools”. The ACT is the only jurisdiction where all public schools are fully funded to the SRS.
Funding
The “Better and Fairer Schools Agreement” (BFSA) lays out a national plan for school reform and funding. It’s intended to come into effect in 2025 and run until 2034.
The agreement states that the Federal Government will “increase its share of the SRS from 20% to up to 22.5% for all government schools by no later than 2029”.
An exception has been made for the NT, where the Government will provide 40% of SRS funding. This was agreed to by the NT and Federal Government in March.
NT and WA
All public schools in the NT are expected to be fully funded in the next five years.
WA is also expected to sign on to the BFSA. Like the NT, the state reached a similar deal with the Federal Government to fully fund their public schools by 2026.
Under this plan, federal funding will make up 22.5% of the SRS in WA schools.
Other states
The remaining state and territory governments say they won’t sign the “Better and Fairer Schools agreement” unless the Federal Government increases its funding commitment to 25% of the SRS.
Victoria’s Education Minister Ben Carroll told TDA his government was “standing with our state colleagues across the country to fight for a better deal”.
NSW Education Minister Prue Car said her state “is not signing up to an agreement that doesn’t benefit the public school students of NSW.”
Qld Education Minister Di Farmer told TDA there are “more disadvantaged schools in regional, remote and rural communities” in Qld than anywhere else.
“There is no way I can explain to [those schools] that they don’t deserve 100% funding,”she said
SA Education Minister Blair Boyer told TDA the extra 5% SRS funding being called for “is worth $190 million each year” to SA schools.
Boyer said the “current offer shortchanges public schools”.
Union response
The AEU supports calls for a federal funding contribution of 25%.
Union President Correna Haythorpe said the funding is “critical”. She said that political disagreements should not get in the way of supporting schools.
“The fact that five states and one territory are refusing to sign the current deal is a clear sign that the… offer is not good enough,” she said.
Opposition
Federal Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson said the BSFA has brought on “a school funding war”.
Henderson questioned how the agreement would support teachers. She said teachers needed to be at the “front and centre of further school reforms.”
Henderson also criticised the Government’s funding deal with the NT over a lack of transparency.
Jason Clare
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the states and territories “have until the end of September” to sign on to the deal.
States that don’t agree to it will “continue with the current funding arrangements,” Clare said.
The Minister said he wanted “to make sure” the funding “makes a difference to the kids who really need it.”
