Victoria’s Education Promises: A Funding Gap Revealed
Victoria’s commitment to education has been a cornerstone of its political rhetoric, particularly since the Labor Party’s return to power in 2014. Under Daniel Andrews, the state proudly introduced number plates emblazoned with “The Education State,” and the government’s inaugural budget was hailed as the most substantial in history for the sector. This came on the heels of the federal Labor government’s Gonski plan, which aimed to establish a needs-based funding model for schools.
Andrews’ government declared its intention to meet Gonski funding levels up to the 2017 school year, citing the urgent need to address overcrowded and dilapidated classrooms and a lack of educational choices for children in burgeoning growth areas. More recently, in May of the previous year, Jacinta Allan, the current Premier, reinforced this sentiment at the City of Melbourne’s M2050 Summit, calling education a “defining part of who we are as a state.”
However, a closer examination of the state’s performance suggests a significant disconnect between these pronouncements and tangible action. The Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), a key recommendation of David Gonski’s 2011 review, was intended to set a minimum benchmark for public school resourcing. Yet, current data indicates that Victoria is not only failing to meet this standard but is operating significantly below it.
The National School Resourcing Board’s Findings
A stark revelation came in October with the annual report from the National School Resourcing Board, an independent body established to monitor school funding across states and territories. The report highlighted a concerning trend: Victoria was the sole state that failed to meet its minimum funding obligations for the 2023 school year.
State schools in Victoria received $9.01 billion in funding, falling short of the minimum requirement of $9.23 billion stipulated by the funding agreement. This contrasts sharply with New South Wales, which provided $12.87 billion to its government schools, exceeding its minimum commitment by a substantial $1.3 billion.
The current funding model mandates that states contribute at least 75 per cent of the SRS for public schools, with the Commonwealth government covering the remaining portion. In 2023, while New South Wales funded 80.23 per cent of its SRS, Victoria’s contribution stood at a mere 68.76 per cent.
The Impact of Underfunding
These figures have direct consequences for the state’s students. Failing to meet the SRS means that the state is not fulfilling its obligations to children attending public schools. Furthermore, the federal government’s contribution is directly linked to the state’s own investment; as Victoria underfunds its schools, the Commonwealth’s funding is consequently reduced. Victoria is the only state in Australia that has not yet agreed on a clear pathway to full SRS funding with the current Albanese government.
While Victoria’s Deputy Premier and Education Minister, Ben Carroll, can rightly point out that Gonski himself recommended including capital investment in school funding calculations – an aspect not currently factored into the SRS – and that the Allan government is on track to open its 100th new school since the 2018 election, representing billions in infrastructure investment, these points do not negate the core issue of recurrent funding shortfalls.
Carroll also has grounds to highlight the state’s “nation-leading NAPLAN results” from the previous year as evidence of effective educational practices. However, the needs of schools are dynamic and ever-evolving, and the state’s education system is building from a historically low funding base. Imagine the potential for further achievement if the government fully committed to its recurrent funding obligations and brought teacher salaries in line with those in other states.
Questionable Funding Practices and Delayed Commitments
Instead of bolstering recurrent funding, the state government has engaged in several actions that cast doubt on its stated commitment to education. In January 2024, reporting revealed a loophole that allowed states to claim 4 per cent of their public school funding share for capital depreciation and non-school expenditures. This practice, labelled a “rort” by education economist Adam Rorris, has the effect of widening the funding disparity between public and private schools.
Further compounding concerns, a meeting of the Allan cabinet’s budget and finance committee in March of that year quietly postponed the commitment to reach the 75 per cent SRS mark by 2028. This objective has now been pushed back to 2031, effectively creating a $2.4 billion shortfall in state school funding in the interim.
As reported by The Age and acknowledged by Minister Carroll, a straightforward method to increase Victoria’s contribution to school resourcing would be to address the remuneration of the state’s underpaid teachers.
The Path Forward: Funding and Agreements
For the federal Albanese government, demonstrating progress on the Gonski initiative was a critical element of their election campaign. The upcoming state election may similarly motivate the Allan government to give serious consideration to teachers’ pay claims.
The heads of agreement, announced a year ago at Boronia Heights Primary School by Premier Allan, Minister Carroll, Prime Minister Albanese, and federal Education Minister Jason Clare, serves as a crucial benchmark. If a comprehensive agreement has been reached for the state’s hospitals, it stands to reason that schools, a sector the Prime Minister himself described as “nothing more than education” in importance for Labor, deserve similar attention.
The Allan government has significant homework to complete. If it is unable or unwilling to forge a complete agreement with Canberra on the fundamental requirement of full funding for Victoria’s state schools, it may find that its “Education State” slogan, much like its number plates, could eventually be recalled.
