A “landmark” deal between the Albanese government and Western Australia to co-fund public school improvements has been rejected by all other states.
The federal education minister, Jason Clare, on Wednesday announced the five-year deal in which the commonwealth and WA will jointly pay to lift the state’s public schools to the schooling resource standard (SRS) by 2026 in return for the state implementing teacher quality and student wellbeing reforms.
Government schools in WA will receive an extra $777m under the deal.
Despite the Albanese government’s intention to roll the same co-funding plan out nationwide, the Australian Education Union and other states have called for the commonwealth to unilaterally lift its funding share to close the public school funding gap.
The Turnbull government’s Gonski 2.0 education reforms required states to fund public schools at 75% of the SRS on top of the federal contribution of 20%, leaving a funding gap of at least 5%.
Currently no public school in Australia, except for schools in the Australian Capital Territory, is funded at the SRS level – a benchmark for required funding based on student needs.
Federal Labor was criticised by the AEU for its vague commitment ahead of the 2022 election to put schools on a “pathway” to full funding and again in December 2022 for extending the existing schools funding agreement to the end of 2024.
On Wednesday Clare and the WA premier, Peter Cook, announced a deal for each government to provide an extra 2.5% of the SRS, lifting the commonwealth share to 22.5% in two steps in 2025 and 2026.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the “landmark agreement” was the first of its kind but the federal government “will be working this through with every state and territory government”.
The scale of the WA deal, if replicated nationwide, suggests an extra $1.5bn to be spent on public schools by the commonwealth, matched by each of the states.
But NSW’s deputy premier and education minister, Prue Car, said the state maintained its position that the commonwealth should fund the remaining 5% to help schools reach their SRS level.
“State governments are facing unprecedented pressure to continue to provide world class services to a growing population, and as the largest state in the Commonwealth NSW is no different,” she said in a statement.
“Our government has committed to reach 75% of the Schooling Resource Standard by 2025 - that’s two years earlier than the previous government’s target.”
State governments in Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia have also maintained their commitment to seeking 25% funding from the commonwealth.
The AEU federal president, Correna Haythorpe, applauded the WA deal but said it “will only see WA public schools reach 96%” of the standard.
That is because WA’s share is “artificially inflated by 4% through the inclusion of costs not directly related to the education of students in schools, such as capital depreciation, transport and regulatory costs”, she said.
The AEU wants the Albanese government to lift its share of public school funding from 20% to 25% of the standard, and up to 40% in the Northern Territory.
Trevor Cobbold, an economist and national convenor of advocacy group Save our Schools, condemned states that did not accept the deal, saying they were failing to commit to better funding of public schools.
“That is disastrous,” he told Guardian Australia.
Cobbold backed the union’s argument that WA’s government schools would still be funded to less than 100% of their SRS.
Sarah Henderson, the opposition spokesperson for education, said the Coalition would consider the proposed funding package.
Henderson said the commonwealth was already meeting its 20% funding requirement under the Gonski model and said the “big gap” was the states and territories.
In return for the increased funding, WA will implement reforms to be negotiated this year, drawing on recommendations of the independent expert education panel which reported in December.
The panel recommended ongoing screening on student progress in literacy and numeracy from grade one, with catch up supports for under-performing children, greater professional development among teachers and a strengthened link between schools and community health services, including a national wellbeing measure.
