Media Release | August 2018
The Australian Government Primary Principals Association (AGPPA) welcomes The Hon. Dan Tehan, to the position of Minister for Education and looks forward to working productively with him to support Government Primary Schools across Australia.
There are many issues the new Minister will be addressing, however, representing over 5,300 primary school principals, AGPPA President, Ian Anderson said, “It is important that all groups are consulted. We definitely don’t want quick deals done to appease disenfranchised groups.”
AGPPA believes there are three fundamental dimensions of public education:
- Public Education as a public good: free, compulsory and secular;
- Public Education for the common good;
- Well-resourced public schools must be available in every community.
AGPPA believes that the school funding model, approved in Federal Parliament in June 2017, eradicated the previous 27 agreements of school funding. AGPPA supported this action but is still concerned that Government schools will not reach the Student Resource Standard (SRS) of funding, due to the Federal Government funding just 20% of the SRS for government schools and the State/Territory Governments being responsible for making up most of the shortfall (75%).
The inequity of school funding, when parent contributions are considered, is disadvantaging a large proportion of young children, the vast majority of whom attend public schools. All Government Primary Schools should be resourced at 100% of the School Resource Standard and calls on Minister Tehan to work towards achieving this for our students.
Media Contact: Ian Anderson, AGPPA President – 040167050