AEU response to inferior Gonski proposal

On Tuesday Malcolm Turnbull proved just how out of touch he is by announcing a new funding arrangement which will see Victorian public schools $630 million worse off compared to delivering the Gonski funding agreement in full. And our schools will be even further away from reaching the minimum Schooling Resource Standard.

We know the difference additional funding makes to the learning and welfare of our students and to your capacity to do your jobs. We also know the positive impact the initial Gonski funding has already made in schools.

Prime Minister Turnbull’s plan would mean:

• Victorian public schools $630 million worse off compared to the original agreement.
• Schools nationally receive only $2 billion over the next 4 years, not the full Gonski allocation of $3.8 billion over the next 2 years (2018 and 2019).
• Over 4 years (2018-2021), Turnbull's plan will be $6.3 billion less than the full Gonski allocation, and over 10 years, it will be $22.3 billion less.
• Public schools receive less than half of the extra funding compared to 80% under the full Gonski.
• A further review by David Gonski into how any additional funding should be spent by schools.

The Turnbull government is seeking to con school communities by pretending that it is delivering Gonski funding, when it is actually cutting Gonski funding.

Equally they are seeking to break a central tenet of the existing Gonski funding deals: state and federal governments working together to resource schools to the Schooling Resource Standard for each state.

Malcolm Turnbull is not delivering needs-based Gonski funding, and his actions will only widen the inequity in resourcing between public and private schools.