NSW: Day of Action for Education, Sunday 18 November

Community Day of Action for Education, 

Sunday November 18, 

11am, Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour

There has been an enormous backlash over the O’Farrell Coalition government’s cut of $1.7 billion over 4 years to education funding, announced on September 11, 2012. This will cut 1,800 teaching and non-teaching positions from public education.

Right now there is a seismic shift of public opinion over the direction of state and federal public education policies. It is time to rally to demonstrate the huge demand for real improvement in the public education system which is a bedrock for a fair, democratic and prosperous Australia. Get all of your friends to come to the Community Day of Acton for Education, Sunday November 18, 11am, Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, Sydney.

Seventy per cent of people polled by Auspoll said the planned cuts would hurt kids in public schools; 82 per cent said it was important or very important to increase funding for public schools, and only 28 per cent said they would have voted for the O’Farrell Coalition if he had disclosed his plans to slash education funding.

On the other hand, there was real enthusiasm and appreciation for the Gillard labor government on September 3 when the Prime Minister announced that she had embraced the Gonski Report’s recommendations and would negotiate with state and territory governments over how much each level of government would contribute.

The public education cuts in NSW are part of the $10 billion in cuts from the whole public sector announced by Treasurer Baird in the September 2011 Budget and the 1.2 per cent Labour Expense Cap imposed in the June 2012 Budget. These two measures mean a cut of 15,000 public sector jobs, including School Administrative and Support Staff positions in schools, as well as teaching and non-teaching positions in head office, regional offices and TAFE.

A key mechanism for imposing these cuts is the ‘Local Schools, Local Decisions’ policy announced in March 2012, whereby resource and staffing levels at schools will not be based on student enrolments, learning needs and curriculum. Instead the Principal will be given a staffing budget, and will have to employ within that limit. School Principals will be required to do more with less and every year will have to decide what to do without – self-management of decline!

This kind of devolved financial structure has been imposed in TAFE for many years and the outcome has been the loss of permanent positions, abolition of courses, the end of equity programs and reduced funding. Now TAFE will lose another 800 positions and will impose higher fees and so limit access to courses for many students.

For more information on the Community Day of Action and the NSW Teachers Federation campaign, www.nswtf.org.au, www.puttingstudentsfirst.org.au, and at Facebook www.facebook.com/psfcharter.