The Greens say a new report from the Australian Education Union showing a growing number of public schools with insufficient space to meet enrolments puts pressure on Labor to include capital funding from the Commonwealth in the new national schools agreement.
The 2024 State of our Schools survey found that 19% of principals didn’t have enough classrooms at their schools, while 40% said they’d run out of space in the next three to five years.
Before the last election Labor said if elected they would “work with States and Territories as part of the next school funding agreements so that school systems have the facilities they need to teach growing numbers of students”. But under questioning in Senate Estimates last month the government refused to commit to meeting its pre-election pledge.
Greens spokesperson on Primary & Secondary Education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:
“Labor’s paltry one-off $215 million injection to the public system was used primarily for basic maintenance and repairs like repairing decrepit and unhygienic toilet blocks and fixing drainage in playgrounds.
“Labor will provide zero ongoing Commonwealth funding to public schools, but will continue to pour public money into the fee-charging private system, with another billion dollars set to go out the door over the next four years.
“Under Labor, private schools like the Prime Minister’s former high school, which recently pocketed $5 million from the Commonwealth, will continue to expand their facilities while public school kids cram into freezing demountables.
“Labor pledged before the election that they would ensure public schools had the capital funding they need to provide the facilities our kids deserve. If Labor introduces legislation to lock in the new school funding arrangements later this year, the Greens will use our numbers in the Senate to push them to keep that promise.”