BY NOREEN NAVIN
SYDNEY — In November Prime Minister John Howard's Coalition government sparked public outrage when it introduced the State Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Bill 2000. The bill was designed to allocate the bulk of federal government school funding, $14 billion, to private schools while public schools, with 70% of students, receive $7.6 billion.
Initially, the bill was blocked in the Senate, until the ALP caved in and gave the government the numbers it needed to pass the legislation.
While the union which covers government school teachers, the Australian Education Union, ran a strong media campaign against the bill, it did not mobilise its members and public support for street demonstrations against the bill. However, the AEU did issue a call for March 15 to be a national day of action in defence of public education, dubbing it "Public Education Day".
For people who don't have any immediate connection with the public education system, you would not have known that anything occurred on March 15.
The Lower Blue Mountains Teachers Association was one of the few branches of the NSW Teachers Federation which mobilised the local community in a political protest against government funding of private schools at the expense of public education on March 15.
Most other branches followed the advice of the NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) and organised a day of "promotion" of public education instead of "protest". The result was that apolitical open day activities were organised such as invitations to the public to visit schools and view students at work, morning teas, grandparents' day, performances, street fairs and other apolitical events.
Given the level of threat to the future funding of public education and given the level of public concern about this, it seems strange that the NSWTF decided not to mobilise public support for a campaign of mass protests against the bill.
The potential for such a campaign was evident by the large attendance at the one public meeting which the NSWTF organised to oppose the bill. The meeting in the south-western Sydney suburb of Mt Pritchard was attended by 700 people.
Four hundred of the people present signed a petition organised by a NSWTF rank and file group, the Activist Teachers Network, calling on NSWTF officials to organise mass rallies in protest against the proposed school funding models. A further 120 NSWTF councillors signed the petition before it was presented at the NSWTF's October council meeting.
When a motion based on the petition's demand for mass rallies was moved, NSWTF president Sue Simpson argued against it. If the union officials had supported the motion for mass rallies, it could have exerted enough political pressure to defeat the bill.
Instead, the NSWTF pursued a strategy of organising Public Education Lobbies (PEL) across NSW. These groups link teachers, parents and principals in electorates for the purpose of regular dialogue with local, state and federal MP's and are advocated by the NSWTF as a way of pressuring the politicians to be more responsive, particularly in marginal seats.
Ultimately, the strategy of public education lobbies proved ineffective in preventing the passage of the State Grants Bill.
The level of union response is out of kilter with the level of threat to future funding for public education.
Over the last 10-15 years, state and federal funding for public schools has decreased to the extent that now only about 30% of federal school funding goes to public schools. The other 70% of funding has been re-allocated to private schools, with the consequence that even the wealthiest private schools receive more funds than public schools.
The federal government has allocated an extra $27.3 million to the 12 richest schools in NSW. All 61 Category One private schools will be better off under the federal government's funding policies by an average $900,000 by 2004. Elite private schools such as The Kings School in Parramatta will receive an extra $1.4 million by 2004 and Newington College in Stanmore will gain an extra $440,000 on top of the $1.4 million already allocated.
This funding allocation is ludicrous when you consider the resources and facilities of the elite private schools. For example, The Kings School owns 15 cricket fields, 5 basketball courts, 12 tennis courts, 13 rugby fields, 3 soccer pitches, 2 climbing walls, a 50m swimming pool, a gymnasium, a boatshed, an indoor rifle range, state of the art computer facilities and a theatre.
When allocating funding to elite private schools such as Kings, the government doesn't take into account their revenue-generating capacity in terms of school fees of up to $11,500 per annum, investments, property ownership, text book allowances, GST exemptions and financially well-endowed Parents and Citizens' Councils which can secure considerable donations for the school.
Where is the equity and justice when Yagoona Public School, which is in a poor area, does not have a hall, a covered-in assembly area, a well-stocked library, adequate classroom space for the oversized classes, or decent technology, textbooks and musical instruments? All that public schools such as Yagoona can expect to receive is an extra $5 per student by 2004.
On the other hand, Bankstown Grammar school with a similar number of enrolments to Yagoona Public School, receives a textbook allowance of $41,629.83 and Commonwealth funding of $995,115.50 as well as state funding of $284,675.29 — a total of $1,321,420.62. By 2004 Bankstown Grammar will receive $2,250,693.00.
Under the 1996 Enrolment Benchmark Adjustment, federal government funding to public schools is reduced if their share of student enrolment fails to keep up with that of private schools.
Under the EBA, public schools lost $11.6 million in 1998, $21.1 million in 1999 and stand to lose an estimated $27 million this year. The State Grants legislation has maintained this method of siphoning off government funding from public schools and reallocating it to private schools. What is not well known is that the money is not returned to the public system when students leave private schools and return to the public system.
Such a serious funding crisis requires a serious response, but that is not coming from the NSWTF. The strategy being followed by the federation's officials is to promote a positive image of public education and hope that will be enough to convince politicians to vote the right way.
This was the reasoning behind the decision of the NSWTF's annual conference last year to establish a public education fund for financing a large-scale media and advertising campaign, as well as polling public opinion, in the lead-up to the federal election. The campaign will focus on promoting the achievements of public school and TAFE students and teachers.
Such a campaign is sure to be just as ineffective as the public education lobbies were in blocking the State Grants Bill.
The problem confronting the NSWTF is that all of the major parties support increased funding for private schools at a time when funding for all forms of government services are being cut. That's why the ALP caved in and voted for the State Grants Bill.
With the Coalition and the Labor parties all supporting increased funding for private schools, the only hope the teacher unions can have of winning adequate funding for public education is to exert real political pressure from the grassroots: from teachers, students, parents, other unions and other supporters.
[Noreen Navin is a member of the Activist Teachers Network and a NSW Teachers Federation state councillor]