Stop destruction of public education
The Howard Government is pushing very hard to introduce its new funding system for schools. There is very little time left to stop the Bill. Guardian readers are urged to contact their Senators and do whatever else they can to raise public awareness and opposition to the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Bill. The new funding system will deliver huge funding increases to private schools, including the wealthiest ones. Public education will be bled to death and it is quite clear from the direction that this government is going that public education as such has no future in this country. What we are seeing is a retreat from a national approach to public education and the responsibility of the state to provide for the education of all citizens. Education Minister Dr Kemp argues that the Commonwealth's main obligation is to private schools. By 2004, private schools will receive $3.9 billion a year from the Federal Government, and public schools will receive $2 billion. In the early 1980s, the majority of Commonwealth school funding went to public schools. By 2004, 70 per cent of students enrolled in public schools will get just 34.1 per cent of Federal Government funding. The Bill will: * introduce the so-called socio-economic status (SES) model of funding for non-Catholic systemic private schools, but keep the old funding model for Catholic systemic schools. Dr Kemp claims that this method is discredited, yet has allowed the largest private school sector (Catholic schools make up 65 per cent of private schools) to remain funded under that system; * guarantee that no private school will be worse off, even if the SES model shows it should lose funds; * introduce establishment grants ($500 per student) for new private schools, which will help new schools set up; * allow for private schools to get funding for distance education students; * bundle literacy and numeracy programs into a single "bucket" with funding for students with special needs and disabilities; * make it mandatory to sign up for performance targets as a condition for funding for all schools and systems, including public education. Funding could be withheld from public schools "failing" to meet Kemp- decided performance targets (these are not defined in the Bill), thus removing funding from schools in most need of additional funds. The proposed funding model has caused an outrage in the community, raising questions about state (taxpayer) funding of private schools, particularly at the expense of public education. Teachers' unions in every state have alerted parents and the communities about the proposed changes to funding. The Communist Party is strongly behind the public education system, the education unions and the campaign to defeat the Bill. The public education system must be strengthened, with state funding non- government schools phased out. As the CPA's Program says, "The guiding principle and aim of the education system must be the provision of free, universal and secular public education for all children to produce a highly literate and cultured society." "Equal access to education is an important democratic right.... The existence of institutions for the elite, for particular religious or ethnic groups, creates harmful divisions in society. "Failure to provide adequate, relevant education for working class children, for Aborigines, migrants and the disadvantaged, reflects and reinforces their oppressed position in society. "A high standard of education is vital for the improvement of their overall position." That can only be achieved through a well-funded, public education system.