Anti-Poverty Week supports the purpose of this Bill to convert the current 20% Commonwealth contribution to the Schooling Resource Standard from a funding cap to a minimum floor level.
One in six children, including 760,000 aged fifteen or under, are experiencing disadvantage and poverty in Australia. Underfunding of schools, and public schools in particular, has a greater impact on children and young people experiencing poverty and disadvantage.
Children living in locations of disadvantage face developmental vulnerability at a level more than twice that of children in the least disadvantaged areas when they start school. This educational challenge for children before they even start their education must be addressed with adequate funding for schools.
Schools should be adequately funded to also meet the challenges that children in poverty face throughout their educational life.
Underfunding of schools, and public schools in particular, has a greater impact on children and young people experiencing poverty and disadvantage.
Anti-Poverty Week asks the committee to:
1. Ensure the bill sets the School Resourcing Standard minimum funding floor at 25% to help support the needs of all students. We submit that a floor of 20% is inadequate to properly fund schools to address the needs of children experiencing poverty and disadvantage.
2. Not set this minimum funding level until all states and territories have agreed to it and signed agreements are in place from all jurisdictions supporting it. Setting a floor without full agreement from all states and territories will not provide the funding to schools to meet the needs of all children and young people in the education system. Specifically, schools working with those experiencing poverty and disadvantage will not have adequate funding to address their specific needs.
3. Address the issue of the 4% depreciation tax that results in more than $2 billion in funding being removed from schools. This further increases the challenges of schools being able to work with children in poverty.
Read our full submission