MEMBER for Moore, Shane Love MLA has voiced his concern at recent budget measures which will affect staffing levels and funding to Western Australian schools from 2014.
Mr Love said he did not want to see regional students disadvantaged with the adoption of a new funding model. “I will be looking to ensure that my constituents retain access to a quality education,” he said.
“At present, I am still trying to ascertain what the changes will mean for students when it comes to available funding per student and staffing levels. “There are unique issues in small regional schools with a significant proportion of Multiple Age Groups and the funding made available to these schools needs to reflect those unique factors.
“As I understand, the Rural Integration Program will no longer apply to small schools with multi-age groups.” Education Minister, Peter Collier MLC has announced a move to a Student Centred Funding Model in 2015 but in the interim has announced funding measures which will see the loss of 500 jobs, a 30 percent reduction to the School Support Program Resource Allocation (SSPRA), a $600 long service leave liability to be paid by schools for teaching staff and $400 for support staff, a reduction in high school teacher numbers, 1.5% cut to schools’ procurement budget and abolition of the funding for the administration of staff performance management.
Mr Collier said major reform was needed to deliver better education for children in WA and despite the funding changes, total funding to schools will still increase by $300 million this year. He said despite the high level of funding, children in WA do not perform as well as those in New South Wales, Victoria or the Australian Capital Territory in NAPLAN results.
Mr Love queried the wisdom of adopting the new Student-Centred Funding Model at a time when teachers were working hard to implement the new Australian Curriculum and transition year sevens to high school. “We really don’t want to see resources cut at this time and threaten education standards,” he said. “Well resourced early childhood programs are fundamental to children getting a strong foundation education and reaching their true potential and capability later in life.”
