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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (20 November) . . Page.. 3849 ..

MS TUCKER: I move:

Add the following new paragraph (2):

"(2) to table in the Assembly on the first sitting day of 1997 a thorough assessment of the equity implications of School Based Management, including the ability of schools to provide high standard support to students at risk.".

The amendment puts a timeframe on what has been agreed by the Minister - that is, that he will produce a paper on this critical issue.

MR MOORE (11.18): Mr Speaker, this is an interesting matter indeed. There has been a great deal of debate about school-based management and the implications for social justice. Ms Tucker has outlined a whole range of issues. When I look at the motion, my immediate reaction is to ask what the problem would be in delaying school-based management for some schools. When Ms McRae approached me, I indicated to her that on the surface I did not have any particular problem with that. Since that time I have been briefed by members from Mr Stefaniak's department, who by and large presented to me the same sort of case that Mr Stefaniak has presented, although I think one issue that Mr Stefaniak did not bring out is particularly important. It comes through to me and, I presume, Ms McRae because of our experience in school planning.

The planning for 1997 will be carried out by schools within the next two or three weeks. It will come to a head in the next two or three weeks; when schools close in December, they are to have the following year planned out. I have been asking myself about the disruption factor. Will it cause more disruption to schools if we say that they can have even more time on this, and will it actually gain anything? At this stage, I am not convinced by what I have heard that the gains will outweigh the disadvantages, so I am going to listen to Ms McRae's contribution to the debate. At this stage, I am inclined to say that there will be less disruption for the students - after all, that is what our schools are about - if we say that it is going to start at a particular time. The schools know what they have to do, and that will be delivered.

I would have thought that most schools are expecting, and already have in process, school-based management. Nevertheless, I have some real doubts about general school-based management, but not so much about the sorts of issues that are dealt with in this first round of school-based management, the general issues that Mr Stefaniak outlined - funding of utilities, human resource management, flexibility in the relief teaching budget, school-based selection of staff, and cleaning contracts. A whole series of issues turn responsibilities back on schools. This can be very positive in some ways. On the other hand, there are the issues that Ms Tucker raised about ensuring that particular schools do not suddenly become advantaged because of their socioeconomic location. This, of course, is a far greater problem in many other cities. The planning of Canberra has tended to give a fairly equitable distribution of people across Canberra.

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