State battle over school funds deal

THE Tasmanian Government is demanding more funds for public schools before it will sign up to the Federal Government’s $4.6 billion settlement with Catholic and independent schools.

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said Tasmania had been a strong supporter of the Gonski 2.0 model which passed the Senate last year.

The State Government stance shows division in the Tasmanian branch of the Liberal party because Senator Eric Abetz immediately greeted the settlement on Thursday.

The NSW Liberal Government also indicated yesterday that it would not sign up to the Catholic and independent school funding deal.

A bilateral agreement based on the Gonski 2.0 model is still being negotiated between the state and federal governments.

The State Government supported the Gonski 2.0 model because it was based on needsbased, sector-blind funding.

“It is our strong position that these principles must be maintained and not compromised through any deals which preference one sector over another,” Mr Rockliff said.

“If the Federal Government are willing to expand the funding envelope, then our government schools deserve more recognition.

“The fact is, Tasmanian students experience the highest levels of disadvantage in the country — and recognition of disadvantage should be applied across every education sector.

“The Australian Government … now has an opportunity to further recognise and fund the government school system in Tasmania.”

Mr Rockliff said the Federal Government should recognise the unprecedented funding levels that the state was applying to education, particularly in the early years and the employment of an additional 250 teachers over six years.

Under the latest deal negotiated by Education Minister Dan Tehan, Tasmanian non- government schools will receive an extra $5 million next year, taking funding to $253.8 million.

Government projections estimate an extra $32 million over the decade from 2020 to 2029 from the deal for independent and Catholic schools.

Acting executive director of Catholic Education Tasmania Sean Gill said the changes went a long way towards fixing the problems caused by the 2017 funding model.

“The 2017 funding model threatened the future of lowfee, faith-based schools in remote and higher socio- economic Gill said.

He said that the previous 2017 funding model was flawed because it used a methodology of allocating funding based on parental incomes at specific schools — rather than averaged across census districts.

“More than half of students and families attending Catholic schools in Tasmania are in the lowest two socio-educational advantage quartiles,” he said.

“If the 2017 model had been allowed to continue, it would have limited the capacity of our schools … to offer low-fee education options to parents.”

Last year Catholic Education Tasmania said that 16 out of 38 Tasmanian Catholic schools would receive less Commonwealth funding in 2018 than in 2017.

It said one school would receive $1.3 million less. status areas,” Mr

If the Federal Government are willing to expand the funding envelope, then our Government schools deserve more recognition

Education Minister JEREMY ROCKLIFF