1.0 Invest in public education and training

State Budget investment in education has the potential to provide maximum social and economic benefits across the whole of Queensland. The QTU believes that free, secular state schooling and TAFE is at the centre of a civil society. The Queensland Government currently delivers these important services across the length and breadth of our vast decentralised state and has a responsibility to invest in funding to support the delivery of world-class education in Queensland.

1.1 Negotiate a fairer National School Reform Agreement (NSRA)

Ensuring that every state school student is funded at a minimum of 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard (SRS) must be the priority as the Queensland Government commences negotiations with the federal government for a replacement National School Reform Agreement (NSRA). The current agreement is delivering 89 per cent, or less, of the SRS, and this cannot continue if the Department of Education’s signature reform, “Equity and Excellence”, is to be implemented. This will require additional funding for state schools from the Queensland and federal governments. If this important additional investment is not made, the educational achievement gap for our most vulnerable students will widen. All students need access to an education funded at 100 per cent of the SRS, but this is crucial for:

• Queensland’s regional and remote school communities
• students with disability
• First Nations students
• students from low socioeconomic backgrounds
• students with low English proficiency
• small schools.

Currently, that funding shortfall results in Queensland students missing out on $3,055 each per year (AEU, 2022).

A review of the current resourcing allocative methodology for state schools, encompassing teaching and non-teaching resourcing, is currently being undertaken after negotiations with the Department of Education in 2022. For successive years, resourcing models have not kept pace with the increasingly complex and expanding educational expectations of state schools. This has been well documented, most recently in 2023 by the Centre for Future Work in The Case for Investing in Public Schools and the Australian Education Union in Clarion Call for Equity. The QTU asserts that the Comprehensive Review of School Resourcing cannot be undertaken on a cost neutral basis, and the Queensland Government must allocate funds to ensure that any recommendations the review makes can be appropriately funded. This should be included as part of the renegotiation of the NSRA.

The QTU continues to advocate that the abolition of NAPLAN in its current form would save more than $100 million per annum, which could be reinvested into funding equity in state schools.

Recommendations

1. Allocate additional funds to ensure that all state schools receive a minimum of 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard, through the renegotiation of the National School Reform Agreement (NRSA) with the Commonwealth Government for the beginning of the 2025 school year, and commit to sustaining this investment across the forward estimates to ensure that Queensland state schools can adequately meet 21st Century educational expectations.
2. Fund VETiS delivery appropriately through allocation of funds to TAFE Queensland and Central Queensland University to fully cover the cost of VETiS delivery.
3. Increase the allocation of vocational education and training funding to TAFE Queensland and Central Queensland University to at least 80 per cent of both state and federal government’s training budgets, and sustain it at this level across the forward estimates.
4. Ensure that the proportional share of education funding is at least 25 per cent of the Queensland Budget in 2024/25, and commit to sustaining this amount of investment across the forward estimates.

QTU State Budget Submission 2024-25