The Government announced additional funding for students with a disability as well as increased funding for preschool programs and the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, (AITSL) to improve teacher quality.
Students with a disability
$1.3bn in extra funding will be provided to support students with a disability, adding up to more than $5bn over the next four years.
For the first time the funding will be advised by the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with a Disability, which provides schools, parents, education authorities and the community with information about the number of students with disability in schools, where they are located and the adjustments they receive.
Preschool programs
$843m will be allocated in 2016 and 2017 for preschool programs across Australia. The funds will be used to provide 15 hours of preschool education per week for every child before they start Year 1.
The funding will be rolled out as part of the Government’s National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education.
Teacher quality
$16.9m in funding will be provided for AITSL to improve teacher quality to ensure that teaching graduates are better prepared for the classroom.
Universities providing teaching degrees will be subject to stronger accreditation processes, following the concern of parents that many new teachers are not classroom-ready.
Indigenous Boarding
$5.4m is being given to extend the Indigenous Boarding Initiative through 2015-2016 to support non-government boarding schools with large numbers of Indigenous boarding students from remote areas to meet costs associated with educating these students.
HAVE YOUR SAY: What does the 2015 Budget do for your school?