The Commonwealth and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Governments have signed an updated school funding and reform agreement, with the former increasing its contribution.
As part of the updated agreement, the Commonwealth will provide additional funding, lifting its contribution to 25 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) by 2034.
This will see an estimated $72 million in additional Commonwealth funding to ACT public schools by the end of 2034-35.
This includes more individualised support for students, mandating evidenced-based teaching practices and more mental health support in schools.
The Australian Government’s funding increase is conditional on the ACT maintaining its funding share for public schools at a minimum of 81.5 per cent of the SRS from 2030 to 2034.
The funding is tied to reforms that will help students catch up, keep up and finish school, such as:
- Year 1 phonics and early years numeracy checks to identify students in the early years of school who need additional help
- whole of school systems of supports and assessment tools that will enable targeted support to students and schools that need it most, including through small-group or catch-up tutoring to help students who fall behind
- initiatives that support wellbeing for learning – including new approaches to addressing bullying and supporting complex behaviours
- working with schools, communities and services providers to provide students with access to community coordinators and multi-disciplinary services
- exploring ways to expand flexible education offerings to support students who need additional support to engage with learning
- delivering Literacy and Numeracy coaching services, professional learning initiatives and access to quality assured curriculum resources for teachers across ACT public schools
- initiatives to strengthen teacher and school leader wellbeing, with focus on teacher workload reduction and workforce attraction and retention.
In addition, the following national targets are included:
- increasing the proportion of students leaving school with a Year 12 certificate by 7.5 percentage points (nationally) by 2030
- reducing the proportion of students in the NAPLAN ‘Needs Additional Support’ proficiency level for reading and numeracy nationally by 10 per cent
- increasing the proportion of students in the ‘Strong’ and ‘Exceeding’ proficiency levels for reading and numeracy by 10 per cent by 2030 and trend upwards for priority equity cohorts in the ‘Strong’ and ‘Exceeding’ proficiency levels nationally
- increasing the Student Attendance Rate, nationally, to 91.4 per cent (2019 level) by 2030
- increasing the engagement rate (completed or still enrolled) of initial teacher education students by 10 percentage points to 69.7 per cent by 2035.
This means more help for students and more support for teachers.
This agreement builds on the previous agreement with the ACT, signed in November last year.
Australian Minister for Education Jason Clare the agreement lifts the Commonwealth’s contribution to 25 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard for ACT public schools.
“This investment is tied to real, practical reforms to help students catch up, keep up and finish school.”
ACT Minister for Education and Early Childhood Yvette Berry MLA said the updated funding agreement will mean extra resources for ACT students and teachers, ensuring ACT public schools will continue to be great places for students to learn and staff to work.
“Every ACT public school student deserves a great education, and a high-quality public education system is key to helping children and young people reach their full potential.”
More reading: Two more states sign on to school funding agreement
