Backlash starts

Critics have hit back at the Federal Government‘s new school funding model which promises $4.5 billion to independent and Catholic schools and no funding increase for public sector, calling it wildly unfair to students and teachers at government schools.

In case you missed it, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Education Minister Dan Tehan yesterday announced plans to radically change up how funds are doled out to private schools.

Until now, the amount of government cash divvied up to independent and Catholic schools was determined on census data relating to the school’s postcode. So, a private school’s location in a ritzy and well-off suburb has historically impacted how much money it receives from the government.

The new model proposes that funding be determined by the income of the parents who send their kids to the school.

To accomodate that means test, the government said an extra $4.5 billion will be directed to the sector, including what Morrison called a $1.2 billion “choice and affordability fund” to basically ensure those independent and Catholic schools don’t have to raise their fees.

Tehan said the government heard from the Catholic school sector who “put a very strong argument that in some cases they do need to be able to offer low-fee offerings because otherwise choice will be taken away from parents.”

Now that cash injection, and especially the $1.2 billion fund, has been savaged by critics who see the funding as a slap in the face to the public sector.

Shadow Education Minister Tanya Plibersek said it appears “the Liberals have done a special deal to set up a $1.2 billion slush fund for private schools” at the expense of public school students.

And the backlash has been bipartisan. NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes today said his state would not sign up to the agreement as long as it included “special deals” for well-off independent schools at the expense of the public sector.

“The Gonski principles provide that school funding should be needs-based and sector-blind. And these are the principles we hold very dear,” Stokes said.