AEU: COAG an opportunity to fight funding cuts

The Australian Education Union has released a statement urging Premiers from across the country to use the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting, held Friday 9 June, as an opportunity to voice their opinions on the school funding situation.

Correna Haythorpe, Federal President of the AEU, said that under the Government’s proposal, public schools will be left behind.

“The Prime Minister’s plan will lock public schools into an inherently flawed model. If we go down this path, 84 per cent of public schools will be below the minimum Schooling Resources Standard by 2027, while two thirds of private schools will continue to be overfunded," said Haythorpe.

The AEU website has released a statement identifying five issues they have in the proposed funding model:
1. The new funding plan is not what the original Gonski review recommended.
2. The agreements the Gillard Government signed in 2013 with states would be abandoned.
3. Eight out of 10 school principals said that the funding they have received so far is not enough.
4. Public schools would be under-resourced.
5. Private schools would be over-resourced.

AEU leadership members will be in Hobart during the COAG meeting.