Christopher Pyne announces $70 million fund to help public schools go it alone

Updated

The Federal Government's plan to make state schools "hum" by becoming independent has been attacked by the education union as a bid to instead pull apart the public system.

Education Minister Christopher Pyne has announced a $70 million Independent Public Schools Initiative, which aims to make around 1,500 more public schools autonomous within the next three years.

"I imagine the Commonwealth's money will mostly be spent on building the skills base for principals and their leadership teams in schools that apply for independent public schooling," he said.

"The more a principal and their leadership teams have control over the destiny of their own school the more that seems to lift that school's performance."

Mr Pyne said he wanted to give school principals more power to select their own staff, choose extra-curricular activities, and lift the "burden" of red-tape.

He has cited the education model used in Western Australia as "very autonomous", where schools are run by principals and their senior staff along with a board "with some knowledge about how to make a school hum."

"One day I'd like to see every public school having a level of autonomy and independence that means that student outcomes are student-first priority," he said.

The Australian Education Union has criticised the minister's plan.

"It's extraordinary to hear Mr Pyne has pitched independent public schools as his answer to arresting the decline in student performance," AEU deputy president Karina Haythorpe said.

"It's worse than a 'do nothing' approach - he's pulling apart our public education system altogether by creating a two-tiered public education system."

But Mr Pyne has dismissed the union's concerns.

"That is a red herring raised usually by people who don't support independent public schooling and they continue to support the central command and control aspects of education that I think are inimical to the best results for student interests," he said.

Labor and the Greens say the idea is a "distraction" from the bigger issue of schools funding and have both again urged the Coalition to revive its support for the Gonski package instead.

"This is a total distraction from the real issue for parents, which is the proper funding of public education so that we have the teachers and the support for students that we need," Greens Senator Penny Wright said.

Labor's education spokeswoman Kate Ellis said the Gonski changes would help all students – not just those in an independent school.

"If they had've just kept their election commitment to implement the Gonski school funding reforms, we'd see all schools benefit and get all the resources they need on a permanent basis," she said.

But Mr Pyne is calling on MPs from all sides of politics to embrace the change and says several Labor MPs support it.

"Julia Gillard used to take credit for the WA independent public schools model, and Chris Bowen, the shadow treasurer, wrote in his book last year that he was in favour of independent public schools," he said.

Topics: education, secondary-schools, public-schools, primary-schools, federal-government, government-and-politics, schools, australia

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