The LNP has rounded on the Palaszczuk government for bowing to pressure from teaching unions and consigning Queensland’s independent public schools to ‘the scrapheap’, while the union has blasted the government for not getting rid of them sooner.

Currently, 250 Queensland schools have independent public school (IPS) status. Another 990 are non-IPS state schools.

The program was closed to further schools joining last year.

Between a rock and a hard place: Education Minister Grace Grace found herself under fire from both the LNP and the QTU,over plans to keep the independent public schools model until October 2020. Credit:Facebook/Grace Grace MP

Education Minister Grace Grace released an evaluation report into the independent public schools on Wednesday, but would not commit to keeping the controversial school model beyond October 2020.