Submitted by NSW Teachers Federation on 21 June 2016
Public school and TAFE teachers are disappointed that the state budget surplus announced today has not been used to provide the school infrastructure necessary to cope with increased student enrolments and restore the funding that has been stripped from TAFE colleges.
On the positive side, however, the NSW government is continuing to allocate its share of the recurrent funding necessary to fully implement the Gonski needs-based model.
Federation Deputy President, Gary Zadkovich, said:
“It is good news that the Baird government is continuing to do what its federal Coalition counterparts shamefully refuse to do – fully fund Gonski so all schools can be lifted to the national resource standard and all students’ needs can be met.
“Federation members welcome the extra $821 million in Gonski funding allocated in the state budget for 2017 and will continue to campaign in the federal election for the Gonski model to be fully implemented in the final two years of the NSW agreement.
“While the government has allocated nearly $1 billion extra over four years for public school infrastructure, this falls short of the submission made by the Department of Education to NSW Infrastructure in 2014, which estimated the capital and land costs of accommodating the projected 23 per cent increase in student enrolments over the next 15 years would be $8.25 billion.
“The budget allocation for school maintenance of $330 million over two years also falls short of the estimated $732 million needed to address the maintenance backlog that was reported by the Auditor-General in 2015.
“It is folly for the state government to achieve a budget surplus and not invest sufficiently in the public school infrastructure and maintenance needed to accommodate the huge growth in student numbers over the coming years.
“The government must also ditch its public sector wages policy and remove the cap on salaries increases if it is to recruit and retain the teachers required to meet the growth in public schooling. This salaries cap places public schools at a serious disadvantage in teacher recruitment when private schools are not limited in this way.
“It is a shame that the budget surplus has not been used to lift investment in our beleaguered TAFE system. Governments have systematically reduced investment in TAFE colleges over many years. TAFE courses have been cut, student fees increased and teacher positions slashed as a result of the NSW government’s discredited Smart and Skilled privatisation policy.
“Huge sums of government funding have been diverted away from our highly-regarded TAFE colleges to benefit the shareholders and directors of private, for-profit training companies, while plunging thousands of people into student loan debt that many will never be able to pay back.
“For these attacks on TAFE courses, teachers and students to occur at a time of budget surplus is appalling. Compounding the damage is the government’s refusal to date to instruct TAFE NSW management to pay teachers a just salaries increase that has been denied since their agreement expired last year.”
Public school and TAFE teachers are disappointed that the state budget surplus announced today has not been used to provide the school infrastructure necessary to cope with increased student enrolments and restore the funding that has been stripped from TAFE colleges.
On the positive side, however, the NSW government is continuing to allocate its share of the recurrent funding necessary to fully implement the Gonski needs-based model.
Federation Deputy President, Gary Zadkovich, said:
“It is good news that the Baird government is continuing to do what its federal Coalition counterparts shamefully refuse to do – fully fund Gonski so all schools can be lifted to the national resource standard and all students’ needs can be met.
“Federation members welcome the extra $821 million in Gonski funding allocated in the state budget for 2017 and will continue to campaign in the federal election for the Gonski model to be fully implemented in the final two years of the NSW agreement.
“While the government has allocated nearly $1 billion extra over four years for public school infrastructure, this falls short of the submission made by the Department of Education to NSW Infrastructure in 2014, which estimated the capital and land costs of accommodating the projected 23 per cent increase in student enrolments over the next 15 years would be $8.25 billion.
“The budget allocation for school maintenance of $330 million over two years also falls short of the estimated $732 million needed to address the maintenance backlog that was reported by the Auditor-General in 2015.
“It is folly for the state government to achieve a budget surplus and not invest sufficiently in the public school infrastructure and maintenance needed to accommodate the huge growth in student numbers over the coming years.
“The government must also ditch its public sector wages policy and remove the cap on salaries increases if it is to recruit and retain the teachers required to meet the growth in public schooling. This salaries cap places public schools at a serious disadvantage in teacher recruitment when private schools are not limited in this way.
“It is a shame that the budget surplus has not been used to lift investment in our beleaguered TAFE system. Governments have systematically reduced investment in TAFE colleges over many years. TAFE courses have been cut, student fees increased and teacher positions slashed as a result of the NSW government’s discredited Smart and Skilled privatisation policy.
“Huge sums of government funding have been diverted away from our highly-regarded TAFE colleges to benefit the shareholders and directors of private, for-profit training companies, while plunging thousands of people into student loan debt that many will never be able to pay back.
“For these attacks on TAFE courses, teachers and students to occur at a time of budget surplus is appalling. Compounding the damage is the government’s refusal to date to instruct TAFE NSW management to pay teachers a just salaries increase that has been denied since their agreement expired last year.”
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