Non-Government schools funding will go the way of
29 Apr 2009
Media release Parents of students in non-government schools should be very worried about the cost of their children's education after 2012, Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education said today.
"Ms Gillard says 'trust me' when it comes to the funding of non-government schools, but has a record of opposition," Mr Pyne said.
"Before the 2007 election Labor promised it would maintain the existing SES Funding model, even though Ms Gillard described it in 2001 as a 'flawed index' that 'does not deliver'," he said.
It is well known that Julia Gillard was one of the central figures in the development of the 2004 Labor Private School Hit List, which would have seen Government funding cut or reduced to hundreds of non-government schools across Australia.
Now we find out that the review into the SES funding model, which was announced in February 2008, won't report until after the next election.
The question for parents of students in non-government schools is who do you trust when it comes to maintaining funding of non-government schools.
Labor, after years of attacking the private health insurance rebate, promised not to touch it before the 2007 election. In Government they broke that promise.
Ms Gillard is on the record as opposing the existing SES Funding model and supporting the Private School Hit-List, then suddenly supporting the SES Funding model, then announcing a review of school funding, and finally delaying the review until after the next election. And Ms Gillard says 'trust me'.
Ms Gillard says 'look at the scoreboard', a scoreboard that shows under-delivering Computers in Schools and Trades Training Centre programs, a School Hall program plagued with systemic rorting, price gouging and rip-offs, and a nationwide boycott of the NAPLAN testing.
"Parents who save and make financial sacrifices to send their children to the school of their choice should be alarmed. Only a Coalition Government can be trusted to support non-government schools fairly," Mr Pyne said.
April 16, 2010
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