BUDGETS SCHOOL SPENDING GETS D-MINUS
The Howard governments Budget initiatives for education have again failed to make the grade according to Australian Democrats leader and Schools spokesperson Senator Lyn Allison.
As a former teacher myself Im giving them a D-Minus, Senator Allison said today. We saw more money for the failed literacy vouchers programme, a child care bribe in an election year, more money for non- government schools and a lot of funding conditions threats directed at government schools. Hectoring and posturing is a bottom of the class response to the critical needs of this sector.
There is an urgent requirement for schools to have more teachers and better facilities.
In addition the Howard government should be listening to the experts who all agree that early care and learning between 0 and 8 years of age are crucial and who are warning that this is another area in which Australia is falling behind.
This was a great opportunity to reform the way child care and early education is delivered along with a more co-ordinated investment in primary schools rather than a grant here and a subsidy there. Instead we got one-off feel good programmes and the yawning structural fractures in the system continue to grow..
