NEEDS based Gonski educational reforms will deliver a 26 per cent increase in spending on Northern Tablelands schools in 2015. That is an additional $3.2 million next year and an additional $5 billion over the next six years.
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Mick Lewis from Ashford Central School is one principal who welcomed the funding. He commended the state government and said it had done a great job introducing the fundamentals of the Gonski recommendations.
Government figures released this week show that Ashford Central will receive an extra $55,402, for a total of $504,037 in 2015. That figure is up from a total of $126,524 during the pre-Gonski period of 2013.
But Mr Lewis said he thought Ashford was getting more than $55,000 extra.
“By my figures we’re getting $70,000 extra from last year, but it depends what you put in it, I guess,” Mr Lewis said. “They’ve implemented more recommendations from the Gonski Review.
“For example, when we got it for 2014 at the beginning of this year, there was no component for remoteness nor isolation. This year we’ve got $19,927 to Ashford for remoteness, and we got $19,626 for isolation. Neither of those figures was funded in 2014. The socio-economic component, which is based on Family Employment and Education, has gone up from $261,000 to $304,000. Put those figures together and that’s where a lot of the increases have come from.”
All small schools in this region received increased funding for 2015. Bundarra Central School ($525,045) came in slightly higher than Ashford, and the larger schools such as Inverell Public ($773,662), Ross Hill Public ($750,137), Inverell High ($668,091) and Macintyre High ($540,818) have seen massive funding increases compared to their 2013 levels.
Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall said he is a passionate advocate of the Gonski education reforms. He said although Gonski was a Labor government initiative, it was implemented by Education Minister Adrian Piccoli.
“This wouldn’t have happened without his leadership and a determination to put the needs of students first,” Mr Marshall said.
“Principals are now in the driver’s seat and now have the flexibility to determine, along with their school communities, how and where they’re going to spend these resources. That’s in stark contrast to before these reforms, when the principals were told by the department where to spend the money.
“Sometimes they were spending the money in areas that just didn’t cater for the needs of their students.”
Mr Marshall said it was all about equity of access to resources for students, no matter where they are, to succeed and achieve their goals.
“As a country MP, that’s what I’m very passionate about. Making sure our country kids get an equal start in life to their city cousins, and this funding model is the best way to deliver that,” he said.
