Page 1452 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 6 May 2008
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investments in previous years. In fact, in 2006 the ACT Government began the largest investment in public education since self-government, with a $350 million investment in quality facilities.
That program of work continues.
Four new schools are scheduled to be opened in Belconnen, Gungahlin and Tuggeranong, in addition to the Harrison School that welcomed its first students this year.
Four new early-childhood schools will be opened in 2009, providing integrated services for children from birth to 8 years—and, importantly, their families. These schools will incorporate child care, family support services and other children’s services.
Mr Speaker, the quality of our teachers is already exceptional. The evidence lies in our student outcomes.
The 2008-09 Budget invests $2.4 million over four years to further enhance the quality of teaching in our schools and $0.4 million for developing leadership qualities in our best teachers.
Overall, this Budget supports new recurrent initiatives totalling $19 million over four years, and capital initiatives totalling $39 million for both government and non-government schools.
Once again, and in line with our determination to wrap services around those most at risk, the initiatives in the education portfolio are part of an integrated package that draws in other portfolio areas and that extends beyond the child to the family.
For example, early childhood schools provide education, childcare and family support services, while $2.5 million is being invested in targeted, intensive family support services to at-risk Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. The initiative will be jointly developed by the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Health.
The aim is to divert at-risk Indigenous youngsters away from the statutory care and protection system, improve access to services and improve family and child wellbeing.
The educational package also helps deliver on the commitments of the Government’s Climate Change Strategy, with a further $1.6 million committed to making our schools carbon-neutral.
And of course the education portfolio is a crucial player in the Government’s skills agenda.
This Budget provides $4.2 million over four years for additional apprenticeships, and it devotes $3.4 million over four years for additional staff in every secondary college to improve students’ access to careers programs and vocational learning.
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