He is days into his new role but new federal education minister Dan Tehan has received a clear message from the Australian Education Union – reverse cuts to public school funding.
Mr Tehan was sworn in as education minister on Tuesday.
Union president Correna Haythorpe says the new appointment should direct focus to the public school education sector, which she says has seen cuts in $1.9 billion in 2018-2019 under the current government.
“The federal government has arbitrarily capped public school funding at only 20 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) while private schools receive 80 per cent,” Ms Haythorpe said.
“Only 13 per cent of public schools will receive enough funding to reach the minimum SRS by 2023.
“Sending out a new education minister to prosecute the same old, tired policies will do nothing to fix the public school funding cuts imposed under the previous minister.
“The real issue is with the 2.5 million public school students who have been forgotten by this government.
“Minister Tehan’s appointment to the education portfolio creates the opportunity for him to show leadership by engaging in broad consultation with the teaching profession about school funding and professional issues, something that has been sadly lacking.”
The union plans to meet with the minister, who is yet to address media, to discuss its priorities.
