A Tarneit principal is calling on the state government to provide state schools with funding certainty by committing to the final two years of the needs-based Gonski school funding agreement.
The agreement was signed by the former state and federal governments in 2013. But there is no ongoing commitment to the agreement in the Victorian budget beyond this year.
Tarneit Senior College principal Michael Fawcett is one of a number of disgruntled Victorian principals calling on the state government to allocate Gonski funding in the May 5 budget.
The principals, along with the Australian Education Union, are also unhappy with new laws that link private school funding to 25 per cent of that given to state schools.
Mr Fawcett said without a commitment to the final two years of the Gonski funding, his school could not plan for the future.
“If we had an indication that there would be a commitment and of how much funding we would get, we could plan. But there hasn’t been one,” he said.
“Funding has been improved for independent schools, but [government] schools like mine in growth areas are waiting for funding.”
Mr Fawcett said his school would like to use its Gonski funding to improve resources, such as upgrading the school’s internet system.
He said that currently he was unable to improve the system without spending money that had been set aside for curriculum-based projects.
AEU state branch president Meredith Peach said principals were speaking up because they were managing, day in, day out, without the resources they needed.
“Children in our public school system have missed out and school principals are now saying, ‘This cannot continue’,” Ms Peach said.
The government has previously said that it is “committed to the Gonski reforms” but has not explicitly said whether it would fund the final two years of the schools improvement scheme.
