By Marina Cameron
Following a report by the Senate's employment, education and training committee, a bill which will drastically affect funding to public schools was passed by the Senate on November 29 with the support of the ALP.
The bill received meagre publicity at the time of the federal budget, and the effect it will have on schools is hidden under layers of rubbery figures. However, as state governments began to glean the implications of the bill, even they made submissions against it.
The bill wipes out the New Schools Policy, which restricted where new schools could be set up and how much funding they could receive. New schools can now be set up by any religious or other group, with fewer requirements to comply with syllabus regulations and no requirement to comply with discrimination laws.
The new schools can be set up regardless of what other schools are in the area and are eligible for the highest federal subsidy for the first time. No new private school is too small, but meanwhile Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett is cutting funding to more than 100 schools in Victoria because they are too small.
In line with a long-term trend, enrolment in private schools is expected to increase from 29.4% to 31.1% by the year 2000. The Liberals' policies will directly encourage this trend by further shifting funds from the public to the private system.
Budget increases to non-government schools (6.1%) are nearly double those allocated to government schools (3.8%), and non-government schools are lobbying for even more money to cope with expected increases in enrolment. On November 23, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that from 1997, for every new student who moves to a private school the federal government will cut its funds for four public students. If public school enrolments continue to fall, this could eventually mean the complete end of funding to public schools.
Bronwyn Powell, from the United Secondary Students Union at Blaxland College in Sydney and a member of Resistance, told Green Left Weekly: "The Liberals also intend to implement a performance assessment system based on student results so that parents can 'choose' which school to send their children to. Lots of families simply can't afford private school education or will spend their whole lives working just to get their children through school. The government is running down the public system and then blaming state schools for not being up to scratch."