Will Hodgman and Jeremy Rockcliff have been very keen to tell us that their government is giving every school an increase of 5% to their resources package. Being generous with my statistics, that is about $15,000 dollars a year to each school. My local school, based on data from the My School website, will receive an increase of about $16,800. When I do the maths this equates to an increase of just over twenty-five cents a day per student. Twenty five cents is not going to make up for the two teachers they lose. Yes Mr Hodgman, Tasmanian parents can do maths and they know that your promises and the budget don’t add up to a bright future for our kids.
Taking teachers out of schools is being seen as a direct attack on the quality of the education our children receive in state schools. This is particularly savage following on from the promises made by the Liberal Party whilst in opposition. “Unlike Labor and the Greens, we won’t sack nurses, teachers or police. We’ll prioritise essential frontline services over other, less essential areas of Government.” Education is taking the biggest cut losing 266 FTE of the total 861 FTE being cut from the Public Service. Peter Gutwein’s statement that “class sizes will not increase above the average of 25 students” is deliberately misleading. This Government is hiding behind statistics, the devil is in the detail. In order to make their numbers look good they includes non-teaching principals and deputies. Next year at my local primary school every class will have more than 25 students and with over 370 students the school needs their principal running it, not back in the classroom.
Parents are coming out on the streets to tell the Hodgman Government that this last attack on the education budget is one too many. Next week on the 9th there will be a TASSO Southern region meeting at Campbell Street Primary (6.30 pm) to discuss the cuts and the review into the Education Act. Meetings are being planned in the north and northwest. The expectation is that parents will come out in force, they are angry because the cuts to teacher numbers will hurt their children’s future and ultimately Tasmania’s future.
Teresa O’Leary, mother of two school aged children
