The highly-charged school funding debate has been reignited with the Turnbull Government’s announcement on Tuesday of “Gonski 2.0”, a plan to offer up an additional $18.6 billion in school funding over the next decade.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham argues that by legislating Commonwealth funding, schools will no longer need to rely on a series of complex agreements with states, territories and independent providers.
PM announces 'Gonski 2.0'
The ‘Gonski’ Model
The current school funding model was announced by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2012 and came with the promise to propel Australia’s education system into the top five internationally by the year 2025.
It was the response to a report into Australian schools, commissioned by the Gillard Government in 2010, and chaired by businessman David Gonski.
Mr Gonski’s report, released in 2012, made 41 recommendations on how the Australian education sector could be reformed with the then Prime Minister Julia Gillard responding to it eight months later.
David Gonski on education assistance
The report called for an extra $5 billion in school funding per year, and the Gillard Government offered $14.5 billion over six years, on the proviso that state and territories increased contributions by 3 per cent.
By the end of Labor’s time in office, four states and the Australian Capital Territory had signed up.
Labor’s policy of needs-based funding was implemented by negotiating 27 separate deals with different states and territories, as well the private sector.
Plibersek: Gonski 2.0 is a '$22b cut'
Moving Forward
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s plan comes after his predecessor Tony Abbott made changes to the Gillard Government’s reforms to school funding.
During his time in office, Mr Abbott’s government put an end to the final two years of the Gillard funding agreement, and instead opted for lower, inflation-based funding increases.
In an effort to "bring the school funding wars to an end", Malcolm Turnbull has brought back the original author of the entire reforms, David Gonski, and asked for another review.
The second Gonski review, to be released by December, is promised to make recommendations on the most effective teaching strategies to “reverse declining results” in an effort to raise the performance of schools and students.
