Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak briefly on the Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024, which is intended to address longstanding issues in the funding for Australia's public education. This bill includes three main measures. First it amends the Australian Education Act to allow the Commonwealth to increase its funding share beyond its 20 per cent of the schooling resource standard. This is a welcome step in addressing significant historical funding gaps which persist more than a decade after David Gonski's landmark review. Second the bill introduces a ratchet mechanism to ensure that the Commonwealth contributions cannot fall below that 20 per cent baseline. This is essential for guaranteeing stability in school funding in the future. Third this bill enables the Commonwealth's funding agreements with Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory to come into effect even if new funding arrangements with other states are still being negotiated.

Before I entered parliament I had the pleasure of running the Australian Business and Community Network. ABCN, as it's well known, is a not-for-profit organisation that connects workplace mentors with students from low socioeconomic schools, helping to close gaps that exist in education and workplace opportunities. It's a fantastic organisation, and, through this work, I was able to see firsthand the amazing talent and dedication that exists within our public schools. Many of the schools that I worked with, I'm very proud to still be connected with—schools like Cabramatta High School, where I had the great pleasure of working with Beth Godwin, who is one of those school leaders who really inspire you in terms of the work that they do. But I also saw the challenges, the frustrations and the need to improve how effectively and efficiently our public schools function and how to better support our educators. Since entering parliament, I've had the privilege of witnessing the incredible work being done by public schools in my electorate of Wentworth. I want to give a particular shout-out to Rose Bay Secondary College. But I have also seen that many of the same challenges persist.

Every child, regardless of their background, deserves a good start in life. That's why public education is a priority for me. That's why I'm campaigning for a new public high school in Wentworth. Whilst Wentworth is fortunate to have some incredible schools—some schools that really perform at the top of the state and show enormous excellence, as well as care for the students—the options for a public high school education are very thin on the ground. Half of our kids in Wentworth attend a public primary school, but less than one in five continues to high school in the state system. This isn't because there's a lack of demand, with three-quarters of parents, in a recent survey, saying they would prefer to send their child to a co-ed public high school but the options aren't there for them. Then there's the high cost of private schools, with private schools in Wentworth costing, on average, $29,000 per year for a child. Families are struggling with the cost of private school fees, and many families are moving out of Wentworth because of their lack of access to public education. Whilst I'm thrilled that the community pressure has delivered $42 million of investment in an upgraded co-ed public high school in Randwick, it's clear we need more options. That's why I've been working with a local architect and expert in urban school design to help develop a vision for a new high school in the east. The options are incredibly exciting, but we need the state government to back us and to plan for an additional public high school in the east in the future.

My commitment to public high schools and public education is also why I support all public schools reaching 100 per cent of their SRS funding as quickly as possible. In Wentworth, data from the Australian Education Union suggests that an additional $19.1 million per year is needed to bring all our public schools up to 100 per cent of the SRS. Statewide, the requirement is $1.8 billion per year across New South Wales. It's clear we have work to do and, because school funding is a shared responsibility, both Commonwealth and state governments need to step up. That is why the Better and Fairer Schools (Funding and Reform) Bill 2024 is a step forward. But I do have some concerns, both with this legislation and with the funding agreements being negotiated alongside it.

Firstly, while the bill makes some important changes, the deals negotiated with the states so far mean that public schools in Western Australia and Tasmania are not due to be fully funded until 2029. Public school students need to be fully funded sooner rather than later. Further delay risks depriving students of essential support, resources and opportunities.

Secondly, I'm concerned about the potential lack of accountability mechanisms if states and territories do not keep their side of the bargain. It's one thing to set a target; it's another to make sure it is met. Without proper accountability measures in place, there is a risk of these funding commitments continuing to fall short.

Thirdly, as noted by the Productivity Commission, the previous National School Reform Agreement did little to improve overall student outcomes. That's why it's critical that future funding agreements made under this bill must be about more than just money. We, as a country, have invested tens of billions of dollars more of money into public education since the Gonski review, and I support that investment. However, we are not seeing results in terms of outcomes for our students—educational outcomes, but also wellbeing outcomes. You see that Australia has had a steady decline in its PISA scores over the past two decades, with performance in maths declining by 37 points since 2006, equivalent to almost two years of schooling, and performance in reading literacy falling by 30 points, equivalent to a year and a half of schooling. This is us as a country going backwards in terms of the educational outcomes of each generation of children, and that is a problem.

National NAPLAN scores are no better, with the latest results showing that one in three Australian school students are performing below literacy and numeracy benchmarks. There is a lot of talk of productivity in this country, and I think this is certainly an example where we have spent more money but are not getting better results. This is an enormous challenge for us as a country. We need to make sure that the funding agreements set out in this bill drive real, measurable improvements in student performance and wellbeing and ensure that resources are allocated in ways that genuinely benefit students and staff.

As the Productivity Commission set out in its 2022 review of the NRSA, we need to 'support quality teaching and effective school leadership' by 'reducing low-value tasks and out-of-field teaching, disseminating best practice and producing evidence-backed resources' for teachers to use in the classroom. I saw this firsthand when I was running ABCN. I spoke to incredibly passionate and effective teachers and school leaders who were spending more and more of their time on low-value administrative tasks and didn't have the same time and energy for their classrooms—when we know that a great teacher, and the relationship between a student and a teacher, is what makes an enormous difference. We have to make sure that our teachers can spend more time on the differences they can make to our students, rather than on administrative tasks.

That also applies to evidence based resources. Again, I spoke to many teachers who were reinventing the wheel year after year in their schools, trying to cobble together great resources for their students. We have one curriculum in New South Wales. There's no reason why we shouldn't have truly excellent curriculum resources that all teachers can draw on and adapt differently to their classrooms. We need to have better resources for our teachers so that they can bring the best of themselves to their relationship with students.

The Productivity Commission review said secondly that we need to 'support all students to achieve basic levels of literacy and numeracy with 'specific targets and measures' to accompany this ambition. If students don't leave each year with appropriate levels of literacy and numeracy, they will fall further and further behind and their opportunities post-school will be limited. There has to be a real focus on getting those basics right.

The Productivity Commission also said we need to reduce differences in achievement across students by supporting those students who face particular challenges. In Australia we have some wonderful high performers, but we also have students who are not performing at that basic level. If we can lift them up it will make a difference to our educational outcomes but it will also make a difference to people's lives and the opportunities they have in the future.

These are the kinds of essential productivity reforms that must be a core part of future funding agreements. I implore the government to learn from some of the experiences of places like the UK, where they focus on evidence for learning. I know that the government has made investments in this space, but this needs to be the piece: evidence for learning and evidence of what actually makes a difference in the classroom, such as phonics instruction. If we can adopt that widely across our education system then we will have the greatest chance of improving the outcomes for our students. Again, the piece I urge the government to do is to make sure that the states, who control what actually happens in the classroom, deliver on things that will make students learn better—on actually improving the productivity and the outcomes of our education system, not just giving the education system more money.

My fourth concern is that this bill does not address the accounting loopholes that currently exist in our school funding arrangements. These loopholes allow states to allocate up to four per cent of total SRS funding towards areas unrelated to schools. These include public transport, capital depreciation and regulatory bodies. In 2019, Labor indicated from opposition that it would address this issue, but it appears that these loopholes may be allowed to persist under this bill.

Finally, my biggest concern is that funding agreements have not yet been reached with New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Without agreements in place, public school funding is at risk from the beginning of next year. This would be a devastating outcome for students, teachers and families in these states. I strongly urge both the states and the Commonwealth to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible. I note that the Commonwealth has come up with a significant investment and put that on the table for the schools, and I urge the states to accept this and work with the Commonwealth on this. I urge them collectively to deliver a pathway to 100 per cent SRS funding for our public schools that is both equitable and prompt. Our students deserve no less.

See this speech in context