Matters of Public Importance: Education: Schools Funding

22nd Jun 04

Mr ORGAN (Cunningham) (4.22 p.m.) — I welcome the opportunity to speak to the member for Jagajaga's MPI on the need for a fairer schools funding system, one based on need, for there is no doubt that the public education system in this country is currently in dire need. The present system is not working, Minister, and there are plenty of examples out there of that. The issue of a fairer schools funding system is one which goes to the core of our nation's future.

Australia currently lags behind comparable countries in its public investment in preschool care and education in public schools and tertiary institutions. As the minister has pointed out, it is the responsibility both of the federal and the state governments. However, this government has pursued an ideological agenda of encouraging the growth of non-government schools and of pouring money into the private school sector at the expense of public schools. The figures are damning—66 per cent of federal government funds are going to the private sector at the moment and only 34 per cent to the public sector.

Following the mantra of choice, this government has allowed independent and private schools to spring up around the country, all of which are taking resources out of the small bucket of money available for education, and, more importantly, taking money from the public sector. I think that is an important point: there is only so much money around in this country for education. With schools cropping up left, right and centre, it is putting a lot of pressure on the public sector. As a result, the public system is stalling and being held back by budget constraints. Frankly, this is not fair.

It is the role of the federal and state governments to support and prioritise the public education sector—to adequately fund the sector above all else. Once that priority is dealt with, other schools can be funded based on need. The Greens are committed to supporting a high-quality public education system and, in doing so, turning around the worrying growth trend in private schooling that is dividing our communities at the moment. The Greens called for the scrapping of the appallingly unfair SES model that funds non-government schools. The motion to scrap the SES model was put by the Greens in the Senate on 4 March. The $1.5 billion earmarked in the recent budget for the wealthiest private schools over the next four years should, we feel, be redirected into priority public schools funding programs.

We have heard a lot in this debate about the money going to wealthy schools and various examples of that, but what we do not really hear about are some of the dire circumstances in some of our poorer and public schools. I would like to refer to that during the brief time I have to speak today. The Greens believe that funding of private schools should be frozen at 2003-04 levels in order to direct those savings into urgently needed catch-up funds for the public sector. Make no mistake, those funds are urgently needed.

For example, I have recently received from various schools in my electorate lists of resource needs and resource demands. I am sure other members have received similar lists. Comparing the money that goes to the various schools, the government is giving about $3,500 per private school student compared with $887 per public school student. Schools are looking at some of the ways in which they could spend that extra $2,696 per annum for each of their students, if they had it. They have come up with a list of some of those ways. It is quite telling in showing what the real dire straits are out there.

On Gwynneville Public School's list, for example, is the requirement for a school assembly hall. At present a demountable library serves that purpose. Helensburgh is asking for smaller class sizes, more sports equipment and a hall to fit the whole school population in. Figtree High School is asking for the opportunity for teachers to attend training courses and to update the library computer facilities to allow Internet access—not laptops for each student but simply to allow Internet access for the school! They want a purpose-built computer room. They want a hot water system and a shower. Another school requires a breakfast program, as 93 per cent of its students are not eating breakfast. That school also wants access to the Internet, extra time for cleaning staff, and books. These are very, very basic demands from schools in my electorate. That is what we should be thinking about.

When we hear tales of millions and millions of dollars going into single schools, we have to ask: `Are those schools really in need?' I would suggest they are not. I would suggest some of these other schools are in dire straits and really in need, and that is what we should all be focusing on. Corrimal East Public School's list includes employment of approximately 10 more teachers. They also request the full maintenance of the entire school rather than the application of bandaid solutions. The minister said that a lot of this is totally the responsibility of the state government but, at the end of the day, it is not happening. We have a problem out there in the community. It is up to the federal and state governments, the community and all of us to work together to fix these problems up.

Mr Lloyd —It's the Labor state governments.

Mr ORGAN —It is not just the Labor state governments—I think we all need to work together. There is another school which is calling for the repair of damaged playground areas; an audio system that works—I could go on—covered walkways; a hall; and a room in which students can participate in dancing, art, singing and drama. These are basic facilities that unfortunately are not being provided around our country. There is a request for a full-time teacher-librarian and another request for a hall, a library and a resource area. Waniora Public School, in my area, is just a lot of demountables. It has no permanent library. It has old timber buildings with white ant, no wet areas and no permanent hall.

It is quite obvious that there is a problem in our schools. We need to really put our minds to dealing with this problem. The Greens believe—and I am sure that many people in here believe—that every child should be guaranteed an education at a local government school that is the best educational, cultural and social experience on offer. Also, if parents seek to send their children to a private school then that is their choice, and they of course have the right to do that, but government support for the private sector must not—I repeat: must not—be at the expense of the public sector. At the moment it is.

In my own electorate of Cunningham, parents of primary school pupils are paying millions of dollars to meet basic educational needs at public schools, including salaries for teachers, new school buildings, sports courts and computers. As I said, this applies to the secondary sector as well. Parents are putting in thousands of hours of voluntary labour to clean toilets, maintain gardens and repair playground equipment, and a lot of this should be taken up by the government. We have to remember that education is a right, not a privilege. Those in the community who have not got extra funds and who cannot put a lot of money into these sorts of things need to have access to quality education.

The government argues that government schools are the winners when it comes to capital funding. It is obvious that with their overall funding regime private schools are the big winners, and parents and communities around the country can see that. The Greens acknowledge that the federal government gives more capital funds to public education than to private schools, but the effect of this is completely swamped by the outrageous bias towards private education in per capita funding. Commonwealth funding to private schools increased by an average of $996 per student from 1999 to 2003. This represents more than seven times the increase for government schools. So by 2007 government schools in Australia would be getting $828 per student and private schools would be getting a massive $4,531 per student. Further increasing capital funds to private schools will inflict yet further disadvantage on public education, which I feel is an affront to a nation that aims for egalitarianism and equal opportunity.

Seventy per cent of federal funds go to private schools, a massive growth over the last four years since the introduction of the SES based funding, particularly—as we have noted—to the wealthiest private schools in this country. We have heard, for example, how under the old ERI funding formula Trinity Grammar School would have been given $1.579 million in 2001 but under the new SES regime it will be receiving $5.4 million in 2004, a massive increase of 247 per cent.

It is time that the federal government owned up to its responsibility to public education, instead of so blatantly treating private education with a large dose of favouritism. There is no doubt that out there in the community this is what people are starting to feel. I have had a number of discussions with schools in my electorate over the last year—public schools, private schools and all sorts of other schools—and especially among the public sector there is very much a feeling that they are starting to be seen as the second tier of the education system. People are saying to them, `If we want to get a quality education we need to go to the better funded schools.' In my day, it was quite clear that a public school gave just as good an education as any other school in the Illawarra area, and I think it is a real shame that these perceptions are now changing. The reality is not changing but if we do not do something about it the reality will change.