Latest news with #AustralianEducationUnion
ABC News
4 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Victorian teachers plan to escalate their fight for more government funding of state schools
Victorian teachers are considering mass rallies targeting the premier, education minister and treasurer in response to what they say is massive underfunding of public schools. Earlier this month, Nine newspapers claimed the government had ripped $2.4 billion from school budgets by delaying its commitment to the Gonski education reforms by three years. The Age reported the savings were signed off by the premier. Jacinta Allan denied her government had withdrawn from its Gonski funding commitment. The Australian Education Union Victorian branch has written to all state school teachers outlining plans to escalate their campaign for better funding, including asking parents to join in mass emails to Ms Allan and Education Minister Ben Carroll, as well as public rallies. Branch president Justin Mullaly said those rallies would be outside school hours and would target the offices of Ms Allan and Mr Carroll, as well as Treasurer Jaclyn Symes. "The government has been duplicitous," Mr Mullaly said. "On the one hand they say that they are promoting the education state and that they're going to fully fund public schools, yet they're not actually planning at all on delivering the money for that." Mr Mullaly said the rallies would also target other senior MPs, but no dates had been set for the action. "We don't do this lightly; we don't engage in activities like this just at the drop of a hat," he said. "This is in response to a complete failure of the state government to deliver the funding the students in our schools need and to provide the resources that teachers, principals and education staff support need." The government said Victoria signed an agreement with the federal government in January that would secure 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) for Victorian government schools by 2034. "Our priority is — and has always been — that every child, no matter where they live, has access to a world-class education for free in a Victorian government school backed by full and fair funding," Mr Carroll said. He said the state government would provide 75 per cent of the SRS, which would see increased funding in stages during the term of the agreement. "The Victorian government is currently finalising these discussions with the Commonwealth," Mr Carroll said. "I will not be negotiating with the Commonwealth through the media."
The Age
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
Teachers to protest in the streets against school funding cuts
Teachers furious at a state government plan to underfund public schools for another six years will take to the streets in a mass protest personally targeting Premier Jacinta Allan as a parliamentary inquiry is launched into the growing scandal. The Australian Education Union on Friday wrote to Victorian teachers calling for immediate action against the government's school funding 'con job' which will strip $2.4 billion out of public schools by pushing back its commitment to fully fund the Gonski reforms by three years. The campaign outlined by the union's state leadership will involve paid advertisements, flooding the email inboxes of Allan and Education Minister Ben Carroll with letters from outraged teachers and school parents and public rallies targeting the pair and Treasurer Jaclyn Symes. The Greens this week established a parliamentary inquiry to examine the impact of the funding cuts on students, teachers and the state school system. The inquiry, backed by the Liberal Party and not voted against by Labor MPs, is due to report by 30 April next year, seven months before the next state election. Cabinet-in-confidence documents provided to this masthead uncovered a secret government decision taken in March last year to delay until 2031 additional funding needed by public schools to deliver the Gonski education reforms. In the three weeks since the funding cuts were exposed, Allan and Carroll have refused to publicly acknowledge the decision or canvass the implications for public school students and teachers. Loading The documents show that Carroll argued against the delay, warning it would damage the state's reputation, entrench Victoria as Australia's lowest per-student funding jurisdiction for government schools and aggravate the funding gap between government and non-government schools and disparity in outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Allan and Carroll, when questioned about the decision in parliament, have pointed to a 34 per cent increase per student in funding for public schools since Labor came to power 11 years ago and $17 billion in capital investments in new and upgraded schools.
Sydney Morning Herald
24-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Unholy workplace row brewing in state's Catholic schools
A messy workplace dispute is brewing between teachers at Victoria's Catholic schools and their employers, with the educators' union threatening Fair Work action to enable its members to take industrial action. A militant mood among the state's government school teachers has spread to the 30,000 educators at Victorian Catholic schools, whose wages lag behind their interstate counterparts by up to $10,000 a year. The vast majority of Catholic teachers surveyed by the union said they were ready to walk off the job for better pay and conditions, raising the prospect of school strikes. But a sector-wide strike by Catholic teachers is not a current option because the 30,000 educators are employed by 33 separate church-linked entities, ranging in size from the giant Diocese of Melbourne to single-site employers. Even before wage talks get officially under way, the teachers' union and the Victorian Catholic Education Authority disagree sharply about the framework for negotiations. Loading Despite terms and conditions being uniform across the sector, the complex structure means that the Catholic teachers are not regarded under the Fair Work Act as a single workforce and are denied the right to strike. This is different to the 52,000 teachers in Victoria's government schools, whose pay is broadly on par with their Catholic counterparts and whose union, the Australian Education Union, is warning that members could walk off the job as they pursue a pay claim that might worth up to 14 per cent in the first year. The Independent Education Union says the Victorian Catholic Education Authority – the Catholic schools' employers umbrella group – could consent to a 'single entity' bargaining process, granting the teachers the same industrial rights as their government school counterparts. But the authority, uniquely among the states and territories, has refused.
The Age
24-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Unholy workplace row brewing in state's Catholic schools
A messy workplace dispute is brewing between teachers at Victoria's Catholic schools and their employers, with the educators' union threatening Fair Work action to enable its members to take industrial action. A militant mood among the state's government school teachers has spread to the 30,000 educators at Victorian Catholic schools, whose wages lag behind their interstate counterparts by up to $10,000 a year. The vast majority of Catholic teachers surveyed by the union said they were ready to walk off the job for better pay and conditions, raising the prospect of school strikes. But a sector-wide strike by Catholic teachers is not a current option because the 30,000 educators are employed by 33 separate church-linked entities, ranging in size from the giant Diocese of Melbourne to single-site employers. Even before wage talks get officially under way, the teachers' union and the Victorian Catholic Education Authority disagree sharply about the framework for negotiations. Loading Despite terms and conditions being uniform across the sector, the complex structure means that the Catholic teachers are not regarded under the Fair Work Act as a single workforce and are denied the right to strike. This is different to the 52,000 teachers in Victoria's government schools, whose pay is broadly on par with their Catholic counterparts and whose union, the Australian Education Union, is warning that members could walk off the job as they pursue a pay claim that might worth up to 14 per cent in the first year. The Independent Education Union says the Victorian Catholic Education Authority – the Catholic schools' employers umbrella group – could consent to a 'single entity' bargaining process, granting the teachers the same industrial rights as their government school counterparts. But the authority, uniquely among the states and territories, has refused.
Sydney Morning Herald
12-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Teachers on collision course with state government over school funding
A showdown is looming between Victorian teachers and the Allan government over school funding after the education union described a decision to delay money needed to deliver the Gonski reforms by three years as a 'disaster for public school staff and students'. Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Justin Mullaly said the revelation the Allan government had secretly delayed its commitment from 2028 to 2031 and, in the process, stripped $2.4 billion out of public schools, underscored the widening gap in teacher pay and staffing levels between Victoria and other states. 'We are the lowest-funded schools in the country, and we are the lowest-paid teachers in the country,' Mullaly said. 'Victoria has to be well and truly on the way to getting to that original commitment by 2028. 'Otherwise, it just won't happen. That is going to be a disaster for public school staff and students.' Victoria previously had a publicly stated target of fully funding its share of the Gonski school funding reforms by 2028. This requires the state to provide government schools 75 per cent of the total funding they are allocated under a needs-based model knows as the Schooling Resource Standard. The federal government has agreed to provide the remaining 25 per cent once the states reach this benchmark. Confidential documents seen by this masthead show that in March 2024, in the lead-up to last year's state budget, the Victorian government abandoned its commitment and, under a revised timeline, won't fully fund public schools until 2031. This means that, between this year and 2031, Victorian schools will receive $2.4 billion less in state government funding than they otherwise would have. They will also receive less money from the Commonwealth.
