BY JOHN GAUCI
SYDNEY — Teachers, parents and students have attacked a federal government bill which would increase private school funding, saying the bill will damage public education and only advantage the wealthiest families in the most elite schools.
The president of the Primary Principals' Association, John McMillan, told a protest forum of 700 people, held at the Mount Pritchard Community Club on October 23, that education minister David Kemp "has grossly underestimated the strength of opposition" to his State Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Bill 2000.
The federal government's four-year $22 billion education plan allocates the bulk of funding ($14 billion) to private schools while public schools, with 70% of students, will receive $7.6 billion.
According to the Australian Education Union's president, Denis Fitzgerald, The King's School in Parramatta "with its 15 cricket fields, five basketball courts, a 50-metre swimming pool, indoor rifle range, that may soon need to include an outdoor rifle range to keep the great unwashed out, gym and fees of $11,600 a year, will reap an extra $1.5 million a year under the Howard government's new funding scheme, bringing its total federal government funding in 2004 to almost $3 million annually."
The president of the NSW Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations, Bev Baker, estimated that the bill allocates government schools an average increase of only $4000 annually.
Some public schools may even lose money. 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 bill accelerates deliberate government policy, pursued by both Coalition and Labor state and federal governments, to shift resources and enrolments from public to private schools. Twenty years ago, 50.8% of federal funds went to public schools. By 1996, this had declined to 41.5%. By 2004, only 35% of federal funding will go to public schools.
In the last five years alone, federal and state government funding to private schools has increased by 23.5% in real terms, while public schools have had their funding cut by 5%.
While they both strongly condemned Kemp's bill, state Labor education minister John Aquilina and federal Labor education spokesperson Michael Lee came under fire from some at the meeting.
Aquilina could do little but look embarrassed when confronted with figures showing the state Labor government had handed over $500 million to private schools, while Lee struggled to answer questions about why Labor was only amending aspects of the bill, rather than rejecting outright.
David Kemp was invited to address the meeting but sent only his apologies and a statement. McMillan noted the irony of the minister only sending 100 copies of the statement to a meeting of 700.
The next action in the campaign is a protest on November 2, 4pm, outside The Kings School, Pennant Hills Road North, Parramatta, organised by the Activist Teacher Network.