Education unions say public schools to lose funds under Coalition      

Date
    August 16, 2013





Public schools in key electorates across NSW could receive tens of millions of dollars less in extra funding under a Coalition government, education unions have said as they ramp up pre-election campaigning.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's pledge that he is on a ''unity ticket'' with Kevin Rudd over Better Schools funding and will match any of Labor's extra money over the next four years has been dismissed by unions.

    These calculations reveal Tony Abbott's deliberate deceit.      

They say his promise falls dramatically short because the bulk of the extra money promised by Labor is due beyond the budget forward estimates, in the final two years of a six-year boost.

That argument is backed up by NSW government budget papers, which show just under 30 per cent of the total $5.03 billion in extra funds for the state is slated to come over the next four years. The remaining 70 per cent is due between 2017 and 2019.


But the Coalition says there will be no difference in school funding in the next term and has promised to review the funding beyond 2016.

The Australian Education Union this week took out full-page newspaper advertisements, while the NSW Teachers Federation and the principals' associations wrote a joint letter to their membership saying the school funding deal ''is under serious threat''.

''It illustrates the depth of feeling on behalf of the the entire public education community,'' AEU president Angelo Gavrielatos said.

The Teachers' Federation will also distribute estimates of the disparity in what the different pledges are worth to different electorates.

The extra federal funding for all the state schools in the seats of Lindsay is about $60.9 million over six years, according to the federation, but would be about just $18.3 million under the Coalition.

Similarly, it claims public schools in Greenway would receive about $55.4 million extra federal money under Labor, but about $16.6 million under the Coalition.

''These calculations reveal Tony Abbott's deliberate deceit on schools funding,'' said federation president Maurie Mulheron.      

But opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said Labor could not be trusted to deliver the final two years anyway.

''Labor has promised many things down the track and never delivered … no school will be worse off, whether it is a Liberal or Labor government in the next term.''

Mr Pyne said the Coalition would review funding and make decisions about the future according to the timetable set out in the National Education Reform Agreement. The first review is due in 2016.

The Teachers' Federation estimates were calculated using indicative federal government figures of the extra amount each school could receive by 2019.

The federation combined the amount public schools in each electorate could receive, and determined how much of that amount was federal funding, using the 65/35 split between the federal and state governments. It then calculated what the schools would receive if only 30 per cent of federal dollars were to be paid.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/education-unions-say-public-schools-to-lose-funds-under-coalition-20130815-2rznq.html#ixzz2c4nl6T00

cods wrote on Aug 16^th, 2013 at 9:06am:


and not just any union ... its the EDUCATION UNION, a body not exactly well known for the accuracy of its public comments..

It is also the same union that is happy that is members in the SA education department have spect an average of $10,000 PER PERSON on travel this year.

You could fund Gonski by simply discarding the education dept.  Schools would have far more money and better outcomes just by getting rid of the left-wing overlords from the education dept.

Rudd has pulled over 1.1. billion from the Education Budget in  the last few weeks.

You see Doctor Oz Rudd of the hall of fame of smoke and mirrors, says one thing then  does another.

Just like he is saying that he won't do a deal with the Greens publicly, yet he is making backroom deals with the Greens for preferences.

He is a piece of work...the good ole Doctor Oz  RUDD!