Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2099 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I now turn to equity-type funding. I am announcing the introduction of a schools equity fund which will assist those schools serving communities identified as being most relatively disadvantaged in socioeconomic terms. This schools equity fund will operate from the beginning of next year and will address those equity needs referred to in the Public Accounts Committee report. Different schools receive different levels of funding according to the needs of their students. This year the ACT Government has allocated over $34m to ensure that students are not educationally disadvantaged. Over $30m of this is from ACT funds. The balance is funded by the Commonwealth. These are targeted funds, funds additional to the regular allocation of funds to schools. The funds are targeted to those schools with children with the greatest needs.

This equity-type funding is allocated to meet the special needs of a wide range of students. This includes approximately $4.6m for English as a second language, $19m for students with disabilities in both mainstream and special settings, $5m for learning assistance and reading recovery, $3.6m for student counselling and behavioural management, and $700,000 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, along with other programs. One program particularly worthy of mention is the means-tested junior secondary bursary scheme. This program presently provides around $360,000 to assist students from low income families to complete their compulsory schooling. It must be agreed that, out of a total annual education budget of over $200m, $34m is a very significant amount to direct towards students with special needs of one kind or another. As I mentioned earlier, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, these funds are distributed on equity grounds. They are spent on a wide range of programs and in different ways to meet those needs.

This Government, as have previous governments, allocates millions of dollars annually to address in a very specific way the learning needs of more than 12,000 children every year. That is the number of kids we are talking about. Where and when possible, schools with the highest levels of needs are assisted. For example, when extra computers have become available for distribution to schools, as they did several months ago when I handed out about 180 free ones, the needs of schools are taken into account when priorities for distribution are set. The schools who need them the most get them. We know that ACT students have access to good learning environments. However, we recognise that, despite our very best efforts, and despite the wide range of equity programs, some students still slip through the net. To track these students, we are developing measures to report on student achievement in literacy and numeracy.

Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to turn now to the schools equity fund. This fund is being introduced in response to the concerns expressed in the PAC report, and by some members of the community, about equity issues in schools. The key objective of the schools equity fund is to redress socioeconomic disadvantage and to improve student outcomes in schools serving a community identified as being relatively disadvantaged. Resources for the fund will be provided from savings made from within the existing government schooling budget. The ACT schools equity fund will be applied in conjunction with the Commonwealth contribution of approximately $55,000 under the former disadvantaged schools component of the national equity program for schools in the ACT. I am advised that this funding will continue. This will provide a total of $110,000 available annually for distribution for equity purposes.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .