The Senate Select Committee into the Abbott Government’s implementation of the Gonski school funding reforms will hold a hearing in Hobart tomorrow.

The inquiry is looking at the failure to deliver equitable needs-based funding and the educational and economic impacts of the Government’s decision to slash the Gonski funding from six to four years.

When: 9:00am – 3:15pm, Friday April 4, 2014

Where: Hobart – Legislative Council, Parliament of Tasmania.

Who: Witnesses will include Australian Education Union, Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations, Australian Parents Council and representatives from the Catholic and Independent sectors.

Statement by Senator Penny Wright (Australian Greens spokesperson for Schools and deputy chair of the Senate Select Committee) on the importance of the Senate Select Committee into school funding:

“The Abbott Government’s education policy gymnastics have left us with very few of the real Gonski reforms in place,” Senator Wright said.

“Two-thirds of the increased Gonski funding will come in the fifth and sixth years of the agreement, but the Abbott Government will only commit to funding the first four years.

“Tasmanian students will slip behind if the government refuses to invest in the future of our young people and continues to undermine the very core of Gonski – that all students deserve a high quality schooling no matter what their background.

“They changed their position on Gonski several times last year, but one thing is clear – Mr Abbott and Mr Pyne have abandoned the core idea that funding should be based on need, no matter which school a child goes to.

“We’ll be looking at the impact of the Abbott Government’s education policy backflips on schools and students in Tasmania and taking evidence on the huge social and economic consequences of failing to invest in all Australian students.

Download full program: Program_Hobart.pdf

More information on the committee including submissions from schools here: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/School_Funding/School_Funding/Submissions

*Senator Penny Wright is Australian Greens spokesperson for Schools and deputy chair of the Senate Select Committee) on the importance of the Senate Select Committee into school funding
*Senator Penny Wright