Ses Funding Model to Stay

The Australian, Samantha Maiden, 9 October 2007; The Age, Farrah Tomazin, 10 October 2007

 

The ALP has said that if they are elected, they will retain the current non-government schools funding system until
2012. The new policy has been welcomed by both independent and Catholic schools.

ALP leader, Mr Kevin Rudd, has abandoned the party’s plans to replace the current socioeconomic status (SES)
funding model with a new ‘needs-based’ funding model, despite referring to the SES model as ‘dysfunctional and unsustainable’ in previous years.

The contentious decision to keep the current model in place and eliminate the old ALP non-government school
‘hit list’ comes after talks with the non-government education sectors, with independent school bodies hailing the
decision as a breakthrough.

Independent School Council executive director, Mr Bill Daniels, says that 'The ALP's promise to retain the SES model
and full indexation of schools funding, together with its repeated assurance that no independent school would lose
funding under a Labor government, is a welcome reflection of the key principles we believe should underpin
government schools funding policies.'

Yet the move has angered teachers’ unions. The Australian Education Union’s (AEU) deputy president, Mr Angelo Gavrielatos has said that ‘it is indefensible in this nation that we continue to deliver such large increases to the
wealthiest schools. To maintain that indefensible model until 2012 makes a mockery of everything the ALP has said
about introducing a needs-based funding model.’

AEU president, Ms Pat Byrne added that ‘we do not support Labor’s decision to maintain a system which is clearly not needs-based.’ Parents Victoria president, Ms Elaine Crowle believes Labor has failed to offer government schools a
‘viable alternative’, and believes the ALP to have become a ‘pseudo-Liberal party.’

Opposition education spokesperson, Mr Stephen Smith and Mr Rudd have said that ‘Labor’s commitment means it will
not be possible for any individual school to be worse off.’

 

 

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