A Victorian school operating under a new wage agreement has asked students to turn up later in the day so it can properly staff its fete.
Out-of-hours events were previously run off the back of free teacher labour, but last year the Victorian Government Schools Agreement was finalised to ensure educators working overtime were supported with time in lieu.
Although pleased with the pay outcome, a union says Victorian public schools still need better access to funding to avoid cancelling or delaying out-of-hours activities such as camps, fetes, fundraisers and sporting events.
The ABC spoke to a Victorian principal about a decision they made to start the school day later than usual in order to staff its annual fete.
It is understood this was done for budgetary reasons.
The principal asked not to named or quoted after being contacted by a spokesperson from the state's Department of Education and Training.
'Not fair'
Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said schools across the state had been working to "manage" time-in-lieu hours in order to balance important classroom work such as marking with school events.
"They are important in terms of children's education and … social and emotional development," she said.
"We don't want to see a scenario where schools are having to make those really difficult decisions."
The time-in-lieu provisions mean a principal can require a teacher or staff member to be on the clock "outside their normal attendance or hours of work", as long as attendance is unavoidable and notice is given.
Ms Peace said the new provisions were important to give teachers back the extra hours they put in in order to do their jobs properly.
"So it will be challenging, and we know that from our members, and particularly our principal members, that this is a challenging period, because there is no additional funding for the time-in-lieu provisions," she said.
"We certainly need more money in our public schools … it's not fair, it's not equitable."
Schools provided with 'annual funding budget'
Ms Peace said there had been commitments from the state and federal governments to "put public schools on a pathway" to get funding where it was needed most.
"The federal government sets a funding standard per child — essentially what it costs to educate a child at different stages of their schooling," she said.
"Victorian public schools are only funded to 90 per cent, currently, of that standard … whilst our private system – Catholic and independent schools – are [mostly] funded at 100 per cent."
In a statement, a state Department of Education and Training spokesperson said that "schools are provided with an annual funding budget for staff salaries and casual relief teachers".
"The department works with schools in instances where additional funding may be required for extra casual relief teachers," the spokesperson said.
