Education funding fail

Labor MP claims broken pledge costing Geelong schools $12m

A BROKEN education funding pledge has cost Geelong schools up to $12 million, Corio federal MP Richard Marles claims.

The Labor frontbencher claims a broken 2013 preelection pledge to match Labor’s schools funding had cost the Geelong region up to $12 million.

“… Going into the 2013 election, the coalition promised to ‘match Labor’s school funding dollar for dollar’,” Mr Marles said. “Since being elected in 2013, that pledge has been broken day in and day out, and we now have a situation where billions of dollars less is being provided to schools around Australia than what was originally committed.”

Mr Marles referred to Australian Education Union (AEU) figures released last year, suggesting 14 schools in the Geelong and Surf Coast region were being short-changed by about $12 million.

“What it shows is that Northern Bay College, for example, in the year 2018-19 is likely to be more than $2 million worse off,” Mr Marles said.

The figures suggest the remaining schools will be between $1.6 million and $500,000 worse off.

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham was contacted for comment, but did not respond before deadline.

AEU Victorian branch president Meredith Peace last year said Geelong students were losing out under the federal government’s education funding.

“Education should not be politicised by ideological cuts that will see schoolchildren in Geelong and the surrounding region be left behind by a plan that will rip millions from local schools,” Ms Peace said.

“We can’t lift student achievements with education cuts — all we will see is a system where some of our most vulnerable schoolchildren will fall through the cracks.”

Mr Marles finished his speech by signalling the Labor Party would campaign on improved education funding in the lead-up to the next federal election — which could be held as early as this year.