Garrett refuses to guarantee indexation

Peter Garrett has today refused to guarantee that future school funding will be indexed, said Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education.

“Promising schools won’t lose one dollar in funding is meaningless if funding isn’t indexed in real terms – non-government schools stand to lose $4.2 billion over the four year life of the funding agreement if indexation isn’t included,” Mr Pyne said.

“Parents already struggling with cost of living increases cannot afford to pay the higher school fees that will result from Labor’s ideological war on non-government schools,” he said.

“The release of four reports commissioned by the school funding review is designed to build a case for Labor to cut non-government school funding.

“The report by the Nous Group explicitly says money should be taken from non-government schools.

“It defies credibility for Mr Garrett to continue to say no school will lose a dollar in funding when the reports commissioned by his own review panel suggest funding cuts. 

“The Coalition’s commitment is simple. We will oppose any new model that results in cuts to non-government schools and we will oppose any new model that doesn’t index funding levels in real terms.

August 31, 2011

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