It’s not just that a formula for determining prevalence of autism (1/100) fails to account for particular rates at particular schools, but that other special needs deserving of regional support services have been overlooked. Who will be there for schools like Alexandria Park, Lewisham and Plunkett Street to assist students with depressive illnesses, reading disabilities, language disorders, and so on?
The SSH shares the concerns of teachers and others that an entrepreneurial funding mechanism will disadvantage schools with significant support needs (and limited access to private sources of funding). Maurie Mulheron, President of the NSW Teachers’ Federation, says: “As responsibility is devolved, the government will develop strict and punitive accountability measures as a means of ‘command and control’. Thus, performance pay, national testing regimes, individual contracts and key performance indicators are introduced.”
There is value in regional funding and support. Educationists have responsibility to determine and promote best practice, and to ensure that our children receive high-quality teaching and formation. The loss of specialty teachers in regional areas is something to lament. Think of the distressed student and family for whom a mental health outreach teacher provides just the right kind of professional and confidential support. It’s not always easy or appropriate to source help from within one’s own school.
Principals are education professionals and not primarily financial managers. When local needs exceed budgetary constraints, and without recourse to regional support services, which positions are most likely to be cut? Librarians, teacher’s aids, ESL specialists, counsellors? Principals will be pressured to save money by employing part-time and temporary teaching staff.
Greens MP John Kaye concedes that Education Minister Adrian Piccoli’s resource allocation model might have eased some of the financial pressure on principals to replace experienced professionals with recently-qualified teachers under his plan to dump responsibility for staffing and other expenditure onto school principals, but says that it fails to address many other devastating impacts of Local Schools, Local Decisions. “Principals will cop the blame when total funds are inadequate. Students in hard-to-staff schools will face an education future without fully qualified teachers. Crucial head office support for teaching, learning and student welfare will be cut.”
“Mr Piccoli knows that teachers in cash-strapped public schools are desperate for any additional funding to address the needs of their students and that Gonski’s $5 billion is a life line … It is name dropping to disguise the real impacts of governments outsourcing the political responsibility for education budget cuts to principals,” Mr Kaye says.
It should be added that inadequate early care for children with disabilities leads to more expensive care needs later.
