Page 2210 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 4 June 2013
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receive the same amount of government funding through the school resource standard as we transition to the new funding arrangements.
The agreement will mean that ACT government funding will increase over the transition time of six years from $469 million in 2013—
Mr Doszpot: No child will get less!
MS GALLAGHER: to $572 million in 2019. Mr Doszpot interjects that no child will get less and that is entirely correct. This has secured extra funding. Indeed, the majority of the extra funding will go to Catholic system primary schools. The work that is being done in the assessment of the school resourcing standard and how it applies to the ACT is that the majority of schools that are under the school resourcing standard operate in the Catholic system primary schools. That is because there has been acknowledgement from the commonwealth that the SES model—
Members interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, members!
Mr Doszpot interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Doszpot, I have called you to order.
MS GALLAGHER: The significant increase in the Catholic system primary schools is because under this agreement the New South Wales average of SES is used and allocated to the Catholic system primary schools here. So there is an acknowledgement from the commonwealth that the previous SES funding model as it applied to the Catholic system primary schools did not actually pick up areas of disadvantage which were masked at perhaps the regional level or jurisdictional level but operated within the suburbs specifically.
This is a good outcome. It will take away the public-private divide. It will ensure that our schools are on an equal footing and that students within that school, students coming from perhaps New South Wales into the ACT, will be operating under the same arrangements. Hopefully, in time we will see other jurisdictions get on board. That is important for ACT students, particularly those who travel, like the Defence Force students that come here from a number of other jurisdictions. If there was a national agreement on this reform, they would be treated the same wherever they went to school.
We were very pleased to reach that agreement with the commonwealth. I think that over time when it is implemented we will look back very proudly at being the second jurisdiction to sign up to these historic reforms.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Dr Bourke.
DR BOURKE: Chief Minister, how many ACT schools currently meet the schooling resource standard, and how many of our schools will attract additional funding to enable their students to come up to the standard?
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