The Maitland-Newcastle Diocese is pushing ahead with changes in its Catholic schools that will cut almost 3 per cent of roles, despite community opposition.
In a letter sent to staff on Monday, September 21, director of schools Jacqueline Wilkinson said a restructure that involved role changes, adjustments to working hours, redeployment opportunities and voluntary redundancies had been finalised.
In a statement to the Newcastle Herald, Ms Wilkinson said the positions being cut represented 2.8 per cent of the workforce, while a further 4.7 per cent held roles that would be partially affected by the changes.
"While the changes will be implemented across our 58 schools, they do not represent widespread job losses," she said.
She said 21.5 full-time equivalent positions would be established to improve literacy, numeracy and student wellbeing across all schools.
Last month, staff across the 58 diocesan schools were called to a meeting where they were told of an organisational restructure for the 2027 school year.
The Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT told the Newcastle Herald the changes would involve removing teacher-librarians from primary schools and reducing the allocated hours for English as an additional language/dialect (EAL/D) and Aboriginal education workers.
The move sparked backlash from staff, parents and the wider community, with one teacher-librarian saying that "the real losers will be children" and the Australian Library and Information Association saying it was "extremely concerned" by the decision.
Triggered by the Hunter news, a petition calling for mandating teacher-librarians in Australian schools has reached 20,000 signatures, and another petition calling for a "reconsideration" of the restructure garnered 734.
On Monday, the Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT said it was "deeply disappointed" that the cuts to teacher librarian roles in primary schools were going ahead.
"The union is still working through the impact of the restructure on our members after receiving the latest advice from the employer on Monday afternoon," branch secretary Carol Matthews said.
"The employer has advised that more than 200 positions will be affected by the restructure. The union understands this is still the case.
"Our members are very concerned about the impact of this staff restructure on student learning.
"The union will be vigilant about ensuring that the work the employer claims is no longer funded is not imposed on other staff members."
A Catholic high school teacher affected by the changes said they would be $20,000 worse off a year after the restructure.
"The thing that frustrates me is they keep saying that it's not going to have an impact on the children's education - without a doubt it's having an impact," they said.
A primary school teacher-librarian said they were "disappointed" with how the consultation process played out.
They said many teacher-librarians had invested time and money into getting master's degree that they would no longer need if they were redeployed into other teaching positions.
"The consultation was dreadful, there was nothing," they said.
"The only consultation was after they made the decision, and it was 'do you want redundancy, do you want to be redeployed to your own school or do you want to be redeployed to another school.'"
Ms Wilkinson said the diocesan schools had been under increasing financial pressure, with employee and operating costs rising and government funding not keeping pace.
Wages now accounted for about 95 per cent of grant income, and Catholic Schools Maitland-Newcastle recorded an operating deficit of about $17.4 million at the end of 2025, she said.
The Catholic Schools Office of Maitland-Newcastle 2025 financial report to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) was due on June 30 this year, but has yet to be uploaded.
The 2024 statement recorded more than $369 million in revenue from recurrent government grants, up from $346 million in 2023.
In 2024, more than $357 million was spent on employee benefits, with salary and wages for teaching staff sitting at more than $224 million, and at more than $60.8 million for non-teaching staff.
Ms Wilkinson said consultation with principals, school leaders and affected staff had been central to the process.
"CSMN recognises that change can be difficult for staff and is committed to supporting employees through the process and identifying opportunities for redeployment wherever possible," she said.
She said feedback had informed the final decisions and would continue to shape the next stages.
Ms Wilkinson said the changes to teacher-librarian roles were part of a broader approach to literacy, recognising that literacy development was a shared responsibility across every classroom and learning area.
She said the schools would also introduce a Curriculum of Pedagogy Teacher - Literacy and Numeracy role in every primary school.
In Monday's staff letter, Ms Wilkinson said that as many primary teacher-librarians as possible would be redeployed into Release from Face-to-Face teaching roles to allow schools to make the most effective use of their curriculum knowledge.
She said English as an additional language or dialect support would be prioritised for students in the early stages of English language and literacy development.
The Herald previously reported that EAL/D teaching allocations across Catholic schools in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese could be reduced from a 19.9 full-time equivalent allocation to 6.4.
