From abc.com.au
School funding: Government to largely honour Gonski deals, boost spending for states that did not sign up
By chief political correspondent Emma Griffiths
Updated 13 minutes ago
The Government has moved to quash criticism that it was breaking a promise over schools funding, announcing it will honour Labor's Gonski commitments for four years and boost spending to those states that had not signed up by $1.2 billion.
But the Opposition insists there are still doubts over whether schools will be worse-off under the new arrangements.
In a surprise move, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Education Minister Christopher Pyne have announced "in-principle" agreements with Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
"We now have a fair and national deal - the Government will put the $1.2 billion that Labor took out back into school funding over the next four years," Mr Abbott said.
Mr Pyne says it means there will be no "second-class" students in Australia.
"I've set about since the election, over the last 11 weeks, talking with all of my state colleagues, but particularly those non-funded states to talk about how we might be able to repair the damage left to us," he said.
"I'm pleased to say that we will now be able to put $1.2 billion into these three jurisdictions. That means there are no second-class students because of Labor's cuts before the election."
The $1.2 billion refers to additional funding Labor had offered under its schools funding model but which was not allocated because those states - led by conservative governments - had not signed up to the Gonski model.
The money will be found from within the federal education budget with the cuts to be revealed in the mid-year economic and fiscal statement.
"We have identified what we think are perfectly suitable savings that won't involve particular difficulties for parents, teachers, students and we'll be announcing those in the MYEFO statement in a week-or-so's time," Mr Abbott said
The Government has been under fire over its stance on schools funding, accused of breaking an election promise made by Mr Abbott, who had said the Coalition was on a "unity ticket" with Labor on the issue.
Last week Mr Pyne announced the government would have to go back to the "drawing board" and renegotiate all school funding deals.
The move triggered a row with governments in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and the ACT, who made funding agreements with Labor.
The Prime Minister defended the apparent reversal yesterday, saying the Government would deliver its election promises, not what some voters "thought" it had promised.
But today's announcement means the funding deals signed with Labor will stand, with Mr Abbott now saying the government's "intention" is to honour the agreements "to the letter".
"I suspect that New South Wales and Victoria will be happy to lose the Canberra command and control elements of those deals but certainly the financial arrangements for the next four years will be absolutely adhered to," he said.
The Coalition Government wants to "dismantle" the regulations and red tape associated with Labor's deal, saying it does not want to "run public schools out of Canberra".
It will shelve Labor's ideas of imposing management plans for states' schools systems, setting up Canberra-based inspectors and gathering extra data in Canberra.
It has also not committed to the full six years of funding proposed by Labor.
School funding: Government to largely honour Gonski deals, boost spending for states that did not sign up
By chief political correspondent Emma Griffiths
Updated 13 minutes ago
The Government has moved to quash criticism that it was breaking a promise over schools funding, announcing it will honour Labor's Gonski commitments for four years and boost spending to those states that had not signed up by $1.2 billion.
But the Opposition insists there are still doubts over whether schools will be worse-off under the new arrangements.
In a surprise move, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Education Minister Christopher Pyne have announced "in-principle" agreements with Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
"We now have a fair and national deal - the Government will put the $1.2 billion that Labor took out back into school funding over the next four years," Mr Abbott said.
Mr Pyne says it means there will be no "second-class" students in Australia.
"I've set about since the election, over the last 11 weeks, talking with all of my state colleagues, but particularly those non-funded states to talk about how we might be able to repair the damage left to us," he said.
"I'm pleased to say that we will now be able to put $1.2 billion into these three jurisdictions. That means there are no second-class students because of Labor's cuts before the election."
The $1.2 billion refers to additional funding Labor had offered under its schools funding model but which was not allocated because those states - led by conservative governments - had not signed up to the Gonski model.
The money will be found from within the federal education budget with the cuts to be revealed in the mid-year economic and fiscal statement.
"We have identified what we think are perfectly suitable savings that won't involve particular difficulties for parents, teachers, students and we'll be announcing those in the MYEFO statement in a week-or-so's time," Mr Abbott said
The Government has been under fire over its stance on schools funding, accused of breaking an election promise made by Mr Abbott, who had said the Coalition was on a "unity ticket" with Labor on the issue.
Last week Mr Pyne announced the government would have to go back to the "drawing board" and renegotiate all school funding deals.
The move triggered a row with governments in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and the ACT, who made funding agreements with Labor.
The Prime Minister defended the apparent reversal yesterday, saying the Government would deliver its election promises, not what some voters "thought" it had promised.
But today's announcement means the funding deals signed with Labor will stand, with Mr Abbott now saying the government's "intention" is to honour the agreements "to the letter".
"I suspect that New South Wales and Victoria will be happy to lose the Canberra command and control elements of those deals but certainly the financial arrangements for the next four years will be absolutely adhered to," he said.
The Coalition Government wants to "dismantle" the regulations and red tape associated with Labor's deal, saying it does not want to "run public schools out of Canberra".
It will shelve Labor's ideas of imposing management plans for states' schools systems, setting up Canberra-based inspectors and gathering extra data in Canberra.
It has also not committed to the full six years of funding proposed by Labor.
