Means testing and all private schools on a hit list

The Gonski education proposals released today potentially place all non-government schools on a private school hit-list, said Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education.

“This is bad news for parents already struggling with higher cost of living pressure,” Mr Pyne said.

“The Government wants to pretend that their ideological opposition to non-government education is over, but they are proposing that essentially parents should be means tested to determine funding for their child’s education,” Mr Pyne said.

“If the model is adopted it could result in cuts to non-government school funding in real terms.  That is money that will have to come out of parent’s pockets,” he said.

“The only reason why the Government won’t categorically state that non-government schools will receive the same funding in real terms is because they know that there will be cuts under their new model.

“This is a genuine worry for parents who scrimp and save to send their children to a non-government school.

The Coalition has calculated that indexation is worth $4.2 billion to non-government schools over four years, or around $3,600 per student in additional school fees.

The Coalition’s criteria for a funding model are unfortunately not met by the model proposed in the Gonski Review. 

• We are committed to choice, but under this model possible cuts to indexation could result in school fees going up, diminishing the ability of parents to afford the school of their choice.
• We are committed to encouraging private investment in schools, not discouraging it, but the new model may penalise schools for private investment and private contributions, meaning people will be less inclined to invest in schools making them more reliant on the taxpayer. 
• We are committed to a model based on need that uses objective data as a basis for allocating funding.  But the new model uses National Testing data to determine funding. NAPLAN should remain a diagnostic tool for students and parents and not be used as a formula for funding.

 “There is now a clear choice in education. On one hand the Coalition can guarantee that under an Abbott Government schools will receive the same quantum of funding plus indexation. Under Labor there will be ongoing uncertainty for schools and higher school fees for parents,” Mr Pyne said.

February 20, 2011