Tasmania will be the greatest recipient per student of funding from Gonski 2.0, Premier Will Hodgman says.
The Premier told News Corp the Federal Government’s proposed funding arrangement would result in about $200 million for Tasmanian schools over 10 years.
“We will be the greatest recipient per student of funding via Gonski 2.0 [which] is a significant positive outcome for our state,” he said.
As part of its 2017 budget, the Federal Government revealed an $18.6 billion increase in funding for Australian schools over the next decade and has asked businessman David Gonski, who advised the former Labor government on funding, to prepare a new “Gonski 2.0” report on how to lift students’ results.
Independent Schools Tasmania executive director Tony Crehan told News Corp the new deal would deliver “fairly steady increases in funding for all Tasmanian students for the next 10 years”.
“That gives schools funding certainty,” Mr Crehan said.
He said, while Tasmania would have benefited from the previous Gonski agreement, “there’s a general feeling that the Government couldn’t afford that and came up with an alternative plan, which I think is acceptable and gives us some certainty”.
Mr Crehan said he had concerns about funding for students with disabilities.
The Australian Education Union told the publication Tasmanian public schools next year would receive $7.4 million under the deal, compared with $50 million promised under the previous Gonski deal.
The union’s Tasmanian president, Helen Richardson, said the Federal Government’s school funding estimator showed Clarendon Vale Primary School, in one of Australia’s most disadvantaged communities, would receive $16,000 next year, compared with independent The Friends’ School’s $318,300.
But Tasmanian Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff told News Corp that was a dishonest comparison to make as the estimator only showed federal funding.
The State Government is the main provider of funds to government schools and its contribution is not included in the estimator.
“For example, Clarendon Vale Primary School is also receiving $1.61 million in total from the State Government in 2017,” Mr Rockliff said.