The Federal Government has today introduced legislation to increase funding to public schools across Australia, removing the funding ceiling that stops the Commonwealth providing more than 20% of funding to public schools.
This means the 20% contributed by the Commonwealth will become the minimum, not the maximum, that it contributes to public schools.
Over the last eight years the percentage of students finishing high school has declined, from 83% to 73% in public schools – a statistic that the Government hopes to address through the new legislation.
“We need to turn around and that’s what this legislation is about,” Federal Education Minister, Jason Clare said in a statement today.
“At the moment, non-government schools are funded at the level David Gonski set, or they are on track to get there, or they are above it and coming back down to it. But most public schools aren’t.”
Clare said the new legislation will enable the Government to fully fund public schools in Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, and any other jurisdictions that sign on to the Albanese Government’s public school funding offer in the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement (BFSA) – a 10-year agreement that ties new funding to practical reforms to help lift student outcomes, sets targets and improves school funding transparency.
To help address resourcing issues facing Australia’s public schools, the Federal Government has put $16bn of additional investment for public schools on the table. If delivered, the funding would represent the biggest extra investment in public education by an Australian Government in the country’s history.
“This legislation will enable additional funding to flow to the states and territories who have signed up to the BFSA,” Clare said. “The Albanese Government will continue to work with the remaining states and territories to fully fund government schools across Australia.”