Australian Greens spokesperson for Education, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has said analysis released today shows once again that federal and state governments have monumentally failed to adequately fund public schools.
Data published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age has shown that, over the last decade, public funding has continued to flow heavily to private schools.
Senator Faruqi said:
"Well-funded public education should be the backbone of our education system, but public schools are getting a raw deal.
"For years, private schools have been the beneficiaries of state and federal public funding programs that have systematically neglected public schools. While 99% of private schools are funded above the national standard, 99% of public schools have absolutely no pathway to the level of funding they need over the next decade.
"With the Commonwealth's $1.2 billion so-called 'Choice and Affordability' fund for private schools due to start dishing out cash in July, it's way past time for a complete rethink of school funding across the country.
"The sad reality is that over the last decade, both Labor and Liberal governments have never wasted an opportunity to hand out public funds to private schools and entrench educational inequality," she said.
