As federal parliament enters its final fortnight for 2024, the headlines are dominated by censure motions against badly behaving senators, debates about political donation reforms that could see major parties receive millions more in public funding, and speculation about election timing. Meanwhile, the underfunding of our public schools continues with fragile prospects for meaningful reform on the horizon.
Last week, in evidence to the Senate Education Committee inquiry into the Better and Fairer Schools Bill, I emphasised how our current approach to school funding is failing Australia's most vulnerable students. While this bill establishes some minimum funding guarantees for public schools, including a 40% funding floor for Northern Territory schools, it falls well short of the comprehensive reform our education system desperately needs.
The political theatre in Canberra this week has seen valuable parliamentary time spent censuring senators for protests and offensive tweets. We've seen extensive coverage of proposed electoral reforms that could deliver an additional $19 million each to Labor and Liberal parties. The media is fixated on whether party leaders are positioning themselves for an election in 2025.
But where is the urgency around addressing the fundamental inequities in our education system? Australia has one of the most socially segregated school systems in the OECD. The current funding model exacerbates this segregation, with non-government schools often receiving disproportionately higher funding than comparable public schools while also charging unregulated fees.
Our public schools, which educate the majority of disadvantaged students, continue to be funded below the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). Meanwhile, non-government schools frequently exceed the SRS through a combination of government funding and private fees. This two-tiered system is failing our most vulnerable students.
As I told the Senate Committee, the Better and Fairer Schools Bill is a good start but a greater, shared national ambition to truly address these systemic inequities is required. Let's acknowledge that all Australian schools, in all sectors receive public funds, and this is unlikely to change. All our kids should be supported. But let's do it equitably and consistently.
We need a financial settlement from all the players in our federation that ensures all schools are funded to 100% of the SRS as a minimum. We also need to review the SRS methodology so that resourcing is based on 100% of kids getting to the minimum standard rather than just 80% of them.
Australia can go beyond the funding wars, and the frankenstein distribution mechanisms that deliver so unevenly for schools. We can absolutely build a world-leading, unified funding model that pools resources from all levels of government and distributes them to schools regardless of sector, through an independent body based on genuine student need. Otherwise, we’ll all be here in a few years, cap-in-hand, hoping our politicians will do the right thing for our young people.
Most importantly, we need bipartisan commitment to long-term reform that regulates all schools receiving public funding within a common framework that ensures transparency, accountability and equity. This should include fee caps, enrolment obligations promoting diversity, and clear reporting requirements.
While political/media debates focus on electoral positioning and parliamentary theatrics, another cohort of Australian students risks being left behind by our segregated and inequitable education system. Surely nothing is more important than ensuring every Australian child has access to a properly resourced, high-quality education? let's hope the Better Fairer Schools funding bill is on the list for the last sitting weeks of the year.
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