Education minister rejects Queensland principal’s claims that if her school lost Gonski funding it would lose valuable staff

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The education minister, Simon Birmingham, has rejected claims by a Queensland principal that casual teachers funded under the Gonski program at a Townsville primary school may not receive new contracts.



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The Heatley school principal, Louise Wilkinson, said she was not certain of the Gonski funding allocation and the positions of teachers and teachers aides employed using the money were in doubt.



But Birmingham said Queensland state Labor was the only government in Queensland responsible for hiring or firing teachers. “If students are going to miss out, which they should not, it will be because of decisions made by local education minister Kate Jones and the Palaszczuk Labor government,” the minister said.

“We will build on the existing record base for federal funding, which will grow from $16bn in 2016 to $20.1bn in 2020. Our growth means there’s no reason schools won’t be able to continue to support teachers and new or existing initiatives, such as specialist teachers or targeted intervention programs.”

“If a government school receives a cut in funding, the blame squarely falls at the feet of Ms Jones, who has complete autonomy over how much each school receives and, most importantly, how it is used.”



Wilkinson suggested the defence department, rather than schools, should be required to raise funds by running chook raffles and selling tea towels.



She made the remarks after she hosted the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, and Labor’s education spokeswoman, Kate Ellis, to discuss the party’s education policy.

The school is in the seat of Herbert, now held by the LNP’s Ewen Jones on a margin of 6.2%.

Wilkinson said she was still not 100% certain of the Gonski funding allocation next year for her school, whose student population is one-third Indigenous students and which also has a high proportion of special needs children.

She told Guardian Australia the current Gonski funding – $300,000 for 620 students – was used to employ three teachers and 15 teachers’ aides. The allocation, she said, provided “real progress” for the school.



But the extra teachers and aides are all on casual contracts because the Gonski funding has been a point of difference between the two major parties. When the agreements were signed under the Gillard Labor government, the former state government under Campbell Newman refused to sign the deal.



“Because it’s about dollars, and dollars are allegedly short, it’s about a suite of competing priorities and I would argue ... that it’s about time defence did some chook raffles and sold tea towels,” said Wilkinson.

“My theory – and this is why I have stayed in education for over 30 years – I believe if we had better educated people and more active citizens then we might have less violence and less need for all the patch-ups that occur.”

Wilkinson agreed there could be better “efficiencies” in education spending, but said in her school and region, the funding had delivered real improvement.



“While we are not the lowest [socio-demographic school] in our region we are certainly one of the lower schools in Townsville, so with that comes a complexity and a challenge. But with additional funding, we can move mountains,” Wilkinson said.



“We are making real progress because of our sharp and narrow focus and we’re really channelling the resources that we do have, but more is welcome.”



On Tuesday Labor released a breakdown of the funding, promised for 2018-19 – the last two years of the six-year Gonski agreements signed up under Gillard. The document sets out the difference between what the Coalition promised ($1.2bn over 2018-19) and what Labor promised ($4.5bn over 2018-20). It is then broken down for all the electorates in Australia. For example, Labor claims in the seat of Herbert it would provide $48m more than the Coalition in Gonski funding.



The education minister, Simon Birmingham, said Labor did not appear to understand how the funding model worked.



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“Quite simply, the federal government pays lump sums to states and territories and nongovernment organisations to distribute as they see fit and based on their own funding models,” the minister said. “Contrary to what is implied in his announcement today, Bill Shorten would have no say in how money is allocated to each school.

“Not only does Labor have no say in how funding is distributed among individual schools, but they will continue a model riddled with inconsistencies in funding between the states, territories and nongovernment systems.”



No matter who wins the election, the next government will have to renegotiate funding deals with the states. Those agreements will set out the conditions of the funding allocations.



Shorten was asked how he could guarantee that the states would pass on the Gonski funds rather than pocketing the extra money – given Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory did not sign up to the original agreements that forced the other states to contribute to the Gonski formula.



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“There’s been a change in the government of Queensland,” Shorten said.



“Campbell Newman, who was remarkably belligerent in his negotiations with us – but fair enough, I think that was his modus operandi – the government’s changed.



“Annastacia Palaszczuk and her team will sit down because they prioritise school funding. But they know a great school like this in Townsville needs resources. The commonwealth has a role in education.”

The office of the Queensland education minister, Kate Jones, was contacted for comment.