‘Absolute disgrace’: Choir, sport, aides on the chopping block as education funding falls $2.4b short

Larger classes and fewer aides to help vulnerable students are among the direct consequences of the Victorian government’s decision to rip $2.4 billion out of public education, school communities say.

The principal of a school within Premier Jacinta Allan’s electorate is among those to have detailed the damage caused by her government’s three-year delay to fund the long-promised Gonski reforms, as revealed by The Age last year.

At St Kilda Park Primary, parents said it was an “indictment” that basics and essentials depended on contributions from families.

Parents and teachers across Victoria have called on the government to fully fund the Gonski reforms by 2028 as previously promised, rather than delaying to 2031, in their submissions to an upper house committee inquiring into the revelations.

Kennington Primary principal Travis Eddy, whose school falls within Premier Jacinta Allan’s Bendigo East electorate, told the inquiry the government was denying Victorian children the resources they need. “Those of us on the ground feel the consequences every day,” Eddy wrote in his submission.

In practice, he said, less funding per student means “larger class sizes that make individualised learning near impossible; fewer integration aides supporting some of the most vulnerable children in the system; teachers spread across too many roles, trying to plug gaps left by funding shortfalls; principals forced into unsustainable workloads”.

The Victorian government had agreed to pay at least 75 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) by 2028, a condition for the Commonwealth to pay the remaining up to 25 per cent. But the state quietly pushed that commitment back to 2031, which would leave a $2.4 billion shortfall, The Age revealed last year.

While the state and Commonwealth are yet to finalise a long-term agreement, they have agreed in principle to meet the standard by 2034 at the latest.

Eddy, the Kennington Primary principal, said the government was choosing to fund its government school children below minimum standards.

“No principal can accept that as reasonable,” he said.

“The idea that we can ‘delay funding’ until 2031 assumes that children can postpone their development, their learning, their social growth or their trauma recovery. They can’t. Every year that adequate funding is withheld is a year of opportunity lost – never to be regained.

“A child in grade 1 in 2025 will be in year 7 by the time this funding is restored. A student currently struggling with foundational literacy cannot wait until 2031 to access essential intervention.”

The school council and parents association at St Kilda Park Primary said their deficit was “being covered by the wallets of our families” and had a human cost.

Families and fundraising cover the cost of the wage of the school’s part-time nurse, as well as schoolbooks, stationery and garden maintenance. Nine fundraising events are already planned for this year.

“The decision … is not simply a deferral of numbers on a spreadsheet; it is a decision to knowingly underfund the education of an entire generation of primary school children,” the St Kilda Park Primary submission said.

The result, according to the submission, is larger class sizes, understaffing and teachers doing unpaid work, or children missing out on extra literacy and numeracy support.

A group of parents from South Melbourne Park Primary School said the government should not be focusing on infrastructure projects or other areas while public education remains underfunded.

“For example, the Victorian government recently spent $350 million on the nearby Albert Park Grand Prix pit lane building – yet public schools like ours are struggling to afford basic classroom necessities and teachers.”

The parents said the school was juggling the rising cost of casual relief teachers, electricity, classroom supplies and maintenance.

“The delay in implementing the full Gonski reforms is an absolute disgrace,” the submission said.

Banyule Primary School council said the reliance on parents and communities was becoming unsustainable, with families already reducing their voluntary contributions because of the cost of living.

“Without increased parent contributions or cost relief, we believe student outcomes may be put at risk. As an example, our school is looking to make cuts to the following: intervention programs, extension groups, school choir, sporting activities,” the school council wrote.

Glenroy Secondary College teachers and parents claimed the school was underfunded by $800,000 a year, while Brunswick South Primary School council estimated their baseline funding per student was about 30 per cent lower than it should be.

Australian Education Union members at the Ballarat Specialist School, Gillies Street campus, said they continued to go without visual arts, performing arts, physical education, language or library teachers.

A government spokeswoman insisted Victoria remained the education state, pointing to its $18.5 billion school building program and NAPLAN results.

“Our nation-leading NAPLAN results are the proof – our students are not only the top performing in the country but also performing better than at any other time on record,” she said. “Our priority is — and has always been — that every child, no matter their circumstance or where they live, has access to a world-class education in a school backed by full and fair funding.”

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