A Liberal breaks ranks and tells the.....truth!

The Tasmanian Liberal government has expressed concern over federal Liberal funding for students with disabilities.

The revelation comes as Labor increases the heat over school funding with Saturday’s federal Braddon by-election looming.

Labor has been saying the federal Liberals have slashed schools funding.

The Liberals deny it. ( they would!)

“In respect of funding for students with a disability, I have written to the Australian government expressing concern about the new funding model,”  state Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff wrote in a recent letter to the Australian Education Union.

The AEU said figures it obtained  in 2017 showed Tasmania received $17 million for students with disabilities in public schools in 2017, but that would drop to $9.7 million in 2018 under the Gonski 2.0 plan and not reach 2017 levels until at least 2028.

“Minister Rockliff is to be commended for asking the Turnbull Government why it plans to slash public school funding for Tasmanian students with disability by nearly half," AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe said 

“Mr (Braddon Liberal candidate Brett) Whiteley owes it to voters to declare, prior to election day, whether he supports taking public education funding from students with disability.” 

Mr  Whiteley said it was  wrong to say federal funding for schools had been cut.

“The fact is, federal funding for schools is up by 37 per cent since we were elected and will rise by another 41 per cent per public school student over the next decade,” Mr Whiteley said.

“Education for students with a disability is particularly important and, if elected as a member of the federal government, I will work closely with the Tasmanian government to deliver and ensure their needs are met.”

Braddon Labor candidate Justine Keay said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had cut $17 billion from schools around Australia, including schools in Braddon, and Labor would restore every dollar. 

“That means fewer resources for every student,” Ms Keay said. 

“The government’s cuts will hurt students with disability particularly hard.

“Labor understands the concerns of many people about the way data is being collected about the needs of students with disability and we want to commission an urgent review into how that can be improved.” 

Estimated federal funding for students with disabilities for 2018-27 was based on the 2016 Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disabilities.

“The Tasmanian government will monitor this work closely and the Department of Education will continue to work at the national level to improve consistency in this important data set,” Mr Rockliff wrote to the AEU.