Napthine running out of excuses

Media Release.

Premier Napthine is running out of excuses on why he is refusing to sign a deal to secure $4 billion extra funding for schools in Victoria.
His latest attempts on ABC radio this morning to blame the Commonwealth and claim that schools will be worse off under the National Plan for School Improvement just don’t stack up.

CLAIM: The numbers keep changing.

FACT: This is just not true. The offer for Victoria remains the same: around $4 billion of extra funding over six years, split 65:35 between the Commonwealth and the Victorian Government, plus better indexation.

CLAIM: Schools in Victoria will lose money under a new funding system.

FACT: Nonsense. Every school in the state will see increases in funding every year. The Victorian Government list of schools supposedly “worse off” has no detail on how these figures were calculated or what assumptions were made. They are fantasy figures designed as part of a scare campaign. If we stick to the current funding model Victorian schools will be worse off by $4.2 billion over the next six years.

CLAIM: The Prime Minister has not discussed school funding with Victoria.

FACT: It has now been almost 8 weeks since the Prime Minister made a public offer to all states to secure a better deal for school funding. Premier Napthine has so far failed to respond in any meaningful way. The Prime Minister has written to Premier Napthine and had discussions at COAG. The Premier knows that school funding is a high priority and that he needs to respond to her offer so negotiations can progress.

CLAIM: The Commonwealth has not been genuine in negotiation with Victoria.

FACT: We’ve had more than 50 meetings with Victoria to discuss school funding –yet we are still waiting to confirm basic information such as their planned rate of school indexation. Until we get that information we can’t finalise a deal.

CLAIM: The National Plan for School Improvement would take decision-making powers away from Victorian school principals.

FACT: More nonsense. The plan includes a specific requirement that school principals have a greater say in running their school.

The plan confirms the role of school systems in distributing funding and driving school improvement. Under our proposals, Victoria would have the flexibility to allocate individual funding amounts to schools. The only requirement is that it should be transparent and needs-based. This makes Premier Napthine’s claims about losing schools even more ludicrous.
It’s simple. Our plan offers more funding for every school in Victoria, and includes reforms we know will lift standards and improve school results.
NSW, the ACT and now South Australia have said that the National Plan is the best deal for their schools and students and that sticking with the current system would see school funding goes backwards.
Premier Napthine now has to make it clear whether he will support our plan for better schools or walk away from a deal and leave Victorian schools at risk of falling behind.


Peter Garrett AM
Federal Member for Kingsford Smith
Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth