National van tour for public school funding

You’ve got to hand it to the AEU, they’re never backward in coming forward; a fleet of bright green Fair Funding Now! vans will visit public schools in marginal electorates across Australia to highlight the $14 billion which has been cut from public-school budgets by the Morrison government.

The fleet of 10 vans is the next stage of the union’s Fair Funding Now! campaign. Campaign teams in each van will engage with parents in local communities to deliver a message about the clear choice for electing a government that puts their local public schools and students first.

The tour will see the green vans visit electorates in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania in the lead up to the federal election.

According to the union, new figures have revealed that the the Morrison government’s school funding legislation will leave 99% of public schools below the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) by 2023. In fact, less than half of all public schools will even reach 95% of the SRS by this date. By contrast, nearly 99% of private schools in Australia will be funded at, or in excess of, the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) by 2023.

“The impact of these public school funding cuts is much worse than first thought when the Morrison government’s school funding legislation was passed in 2017,” AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said.

”Now these agreements leave no prospect for public schools to be funded at 100% of the SRS at any point in the foreseeable future under the Morrison Government. This is a deliberate attack on public schools.

“The Morrison government’s school funding legislation means that virtually every public school in Australia will not have enough funding to meet the needs of its students for the next five years and beyond."

AEU’s analysis of school funding has shown:

• The ACT is the only state or territory where public schools will be fully funded at 100% of the SRS by 2023.  This is 1.3% of all public schools and 1.6% of public school students in Australia.
• Private schools in NSW, Queensland, ACT, TAS, WA and Vic will be at or exceed 100% of SRS by 2023. SA will be at 99.7 % of the SRS

“Public school funding is a key consideration for parents and their voting intentions,” Haythorpe said. “More than eight in 10 respondents to a recent AEU poll said that education will be important in deciding who they will vote for at the upcoming federal election.”