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Three Labor MPs have signed off on a scathing parliamentary committee report that demands the Allan government compensate Victoria’s public schools for starving them of billions of dollars of vital funding over years.
The cross-party inquiry into public school funding, in its final report that was published on Tuesday, found the state government’s failure to reach a deal with the Commonwealth had already left Victorian children lagging their interstate peers by up to $2500 each year in investment in their education.
The committee said it had been unable to get a straight answer from the government about when Victoria’s public schools would be fully funded to the nationally agreed standard. The years 2028, 2031 and 2034 have all been floated at various times as possible targets.
Victoria is the only state or territory that has yet to finalise a deal with the Commonwealth to bring the funding of public schools up to 100 per cent – from its present level of about 91 per cent – of the School Resourcing Standard, the minimum requirement established under the landmark 2012 Gonski review of school funding.
The Age revealed last year that the state government had secretly ripped $2.4 billion from state schools by delaying its promise to fulfil the long-promised reforms – by providing 75 per cent of the SRS, matched by 25 per cent from the Commonwealth – from 2028 until 2031.
Hundreds of government schools were closed in March as up to 35,000 teachers, principals and education support workers – who are the nation’s lowest-paid public education workforce – took to the streets of Melbourne’s CBD demanding better pay and conditions and protesting against underfunding of their schools.
The committee found state schools’ need for funding was urgent, and that a whole generation of public school students was at risk of going from prep to the end of high school without ever having their education funded to the minimum standards.
The Education Department told the committee that if the billions of dollars it had poured into building and expanding schools over the years was counted towards the SRS, then Victoria would be the highest-spending state for public education.
The department also argued Victoria had to cope with the largest surge in enrolments in the nation, with more than 45,000 extra children signing up for the state’s schools between 2018 and 2025, in contrast with NSW, where enrolments fell in the same period by more than 25,000.
But the committee – including Labor MPs Michael Galea, Ryan Batchelor and Lee Tarlamis – urged the state government to act, arguing children in the system could not wait until the 2030s to have their schooling properly funded.
They called on the government to “confirm unequivocally” when Victoria would meet the SRS requirement, and to backpay the underfunded amount dating to an agreement with the Commonwealth in 2018, while also pressing the federal government to similarly compensate schools for the shortfall from Canberra.
The committee heard evidence from teachers, principals, parents, students and others about how the shortage of cash in state schools would have lifelong impacts on children. The final report cited evidence from Kennington Primary School principal Travis Eddy.
“The idea that funding can be delayed until 2031 assumes that children can wait,” Eddy said.
“They cannot. Every year the support is not in place is a year of learning, development and opportunity that cannot be recovered.”
Committee chair and Liberal MP Joe McCracken said the inquiry’s strong recommendations were justified given the effect of the underfunding was ongoing.
“Public schools have been forced to delay improving both their staffing numbers and infrastructure. These ongoing effects can be ameliorated through access to the funding that they have been denied,” he said.
“Providing this funding also sends an important signal that the years of underfunding should not have happened and that Victoria is committed to righting this wrong.”
Education Minister Ben Carroll defended his government’s record on public education funding, saying the state had been left to shoulder most of the burden of building and expanding schools.
“Building schools is an investment in our kids’ future, and we have the largest school building program in the country – our $20.1 billion investment over 11 years has seen 126 new government schools funded and delivered more than 2400 school upgrades,” Carrol said.
“But we shouldn’t have to go it alone. We’re funding 99 per cent of public school infrastructure and the Commonwealth is contributing just 1 per cent, so we’re calling on the Commonwealth to deliver their fair share.”
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Nicole Precel is an education reporter at The Age. She was previously an audio video producer. She is also a documentary maker. Get in touch at nicole.precel@theage.com.auConnect via X, Facebook or email.From our partners
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