Little Relief For Parents In State Budget

In the state budget introduced on 16 June, the Catholic sector received a 3% increase in per capita grants and the Students With Disabilities (SWD) program for recurrent funding for the year. Due to enrolment increases in the sector, an additional $8.064m would be paid – an increase of about 2%.  With teacher salaries already having been increased by at least 4.5 %, this will mean that parents will be required to accept an inevitable increase in fees. 

The government has given a commitment of $50m to the non-state sector (payable in 2010-11) for the establishment or expansion of schools catering for disengaged young people. There are a number of centres throughout the state, mainly administered by Edmund Rice Education that will benefit from this funding.

Funding of $3 million over three years, including $1.2 million in 2009-10, has been provided for the Edmund Rice Bridge Program. This program will provide an innovative model of support for young people aged between 12 and 15 years who are returning from the juvenile justice system and are at risk of disengaging from education and other social connections.

Additional funding will be given to improve literacy and numeracy levels as well as assistance to increase the level of interest in science.

The Federation acknowledges that the budget was framed in difficult financial times but is seeking assurances from government that when the global financial crisis has eased, it will be able to restore funding to levels which will not increase the financial burdens on families whose students attend Catholic schools.

[NIB Vol 28 No. 5 July 2009]