- Published:
- Tuesday 2 April 2019
The Morrison minority government has delivered another federal budget that fails to fund schools fairly and confirms early childhood education funding will be cut from 2021.
The Liberals have done nothing to rectify their dud school funding deal that funds public school kids less than private school kids.
Under Scott Morrison’s proposal, Victorian public school kids would miss out on about $800 million over the next three years – the equivalent of 2000 extra teachers.
In an insult to all Victorians, the Liberals have also created a paltry $30 million national election slush fund for school projects.
This stands in strong contrast to the Andrews Labor Government $3.8 billion investment in school infrastructure.
It doesn’t get any better for kinder kids either.
The budget includes no funding for three-year-old kinder and despite parents and the early childhood education sector pleading for a long-term funding deal for four-year-old kinder, Scott Morrison has again let them down.
The Liberals have today confirmed they will not continue funding kinders from 2021 leaving parents and providers in the dark about their funding future.
The failure to guarantee funding puts kindergarten hours at risk and may see parents facing higher fees.
The Andrews Labor Government will be the first in Australia to deliver a universal 15 hour per week kindergarten program for three-year-olds. This will be progressively rolled out from 2020, thanks to an investment of close to $5 billion over the next decade.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education James Merlino
“Scott Morrison has today confirmed he doesn’t care about the future of our kids. His budget fails parents and children right across Victoria.”
“The budget confirms that under a Liberal government, public school kids will receive less funding than private school kids and kinder funding will be slashed from 2021.”
“This budget was an opportunity for Scott Morrison to prove he would stand up for young Victorians – and once again he has failed them completely.”