Hodgman must secure Tasmania’s $100m Gonski deal …

Premier Will Hodgman must now take the school funding fight for Tasmania’s Gonski money to the Federal Government, amid criticism today from Education Minister Simon Birmingham that his Government is hypocritical on Gonski because of its 2014 state budget education cuts ( http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/02/03/00/17/hypocrite-states-cut-school-cash-feds ).

“This is a big test for Will Hodgman – is he going to now stand-up for our students and demand that Malcolm Turnbull delivers our $100M* of Gonski school funding or, as Birmingham says, is he hypocritical on Gonski?” says Helen Richardson, AEU Tasmanian Branch President.

“Will Hodgman says education is a top priority and he signed a pledge to fight for Tasmania’s full Gonski funding but, in contrast to other state leaders, we’ve heard nothing from him about what he will do to ensure Mr Turnbull honours our Agreement and delivers the $100M we need for our schools,” says Ms Richardson.

“What is Will Hodgman doing to secure the $100M in our signed Gonski Agreement, which is desperately needed in our schools?

“The Hodgman Government’s 2014 education cuts were devastating for schools and the 2017 Productivity Commission report shows that class sizes rose and we already know that waiting lists for professional supports such as speech therapy are now more than a year.

“The previous state budget cuts, combined with Tasmania’s high level of need, means no other state needs full Gonski funding more than us, so what is Premier Hodgman doing to secure that $100 million?”

Tasmania has a signed Gonski Agreement with the Commonwealth, where state and federal governments jointly invest in our schools – but Malcom Turnbull doesn’t want to honour his side of the Agreement.
Only a fraction of Gonski money has been delivered so far in Tasmania, with the largest amounts due to flow in the next two years – the Federal Government’s share is $100 million in 2018/2019.
There is $100 million at stake for Tasmania’s schools and that money pays for the things we know work – more one-on-one teacher time; access to specialists such as speech therapists; individual attention with reading, writing and maths.

“We know Will Hodgman wants to deliver quality education for all Tasmanian kids but what is his plan to secure the $100M in Federal Gonski funding from Malcolm Turnbull to enable that to happen?” says Ms Richardson.

Further information:

• Jeremy Rockliff’s cites $100M as Federal Gonski money due to Tasmania in 2018/2019 in his Senate Submission: https://aeutas.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Tasmanian-Government-Submission-Copy.pdf
Harriet Binet, Communications Australian Education Union Tasmanian Branch