Gonski goneski as black hole grows

Gonski is goneski, from the AFR:

The Coalition has dumped the so-called Gonski reforms…Education Minister Christopher Pyne said the incoming government had discovered a $1.2 billion black hole left over by Labor and the funding arrangements would have to be re-written post-2014.

He said the Better Schools plan required $2.8 billion if it was to be fully extended to all states, territories and school systems. But Labor had budgeted just $1.6 billion, which meant it left office having made $1.2 billion in “cuts”.

…His comments prompted a rapid and angry response from the NSW government, which was the first to sign up to the Gonski changes and is expecting $5.1 billion over six years.

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell said Mr Pyne ought to stop acting as if he were in opposition and set about having “respectful discussions and consultations in private, not though the media”.

According to Crikey it won’t be so easy:

Pyne is now claiming that some of these legal agreements were not finalised, and that he will “renegotiate all the funding deals” to make the reforms implementable and fairer. (The legality of this is highly questionable, given these written and signed agreements are all — or most — legally binding agreements. And the states are not recalcitrant administrative entities of the Commonwealth, but democratically elected, sovereign governments.)

The bodies in question — Tasmania, Victoria and the Catholic sector are refuting Pyne’s claim — have stated that firm agreements are in place. Tasmania is even threatening legal action if the Commonwealth backs away from the written agreement they have. The conservative signatories (NSW and Victoria) have emphatically confirmed that binding deals are in place and that the Commonwealth cannot unilaterally turn away from it. They have vowed to fight for them.

The Victorian government explicitly told its schools and citizens last month that it was committed to full implementation of the reforms and the full $12.2 billion increase over six years, pledging it would “work with the new Commonwealth government to ensure this agreement and the promised additional funding is honouredbeyond the current budget estimates period to 2019″. In NSW, implementation has already begun.

Ross Fox, executive director of the National Catholic Education Commission, likewise says a deal was reached, and that he was not concerned that their $1.6 billion of funding was at risk — although he hoped to streamline some of the reporting requirements before signing the dotted line for the final time.

…Contrary to Pyne’s claim, the individual flexible bilateral agreements negotiated separately with each school system (as opposed to a uniform, national agreement) are not a shambles — they’re exactly what David Gonksi recommended. In Gonski’s own words, the existing state and private school system authorities “are better placed than the Australian government to determine the most effective allocation of available resources in their particular circumstances”. This is because their local knowledge and administrative capacity is greater than that of the Commonwealth. In fact, most elements of the Better Schools plan were already in place, or scheduled for introduction at the state level to varying degrees.

Most of the funding boost is going through then. Doesn’t seem altogether efficient after millions of dollars, man hours, column inches, and promises of a unity ticket, but a black hole must be filled! Laura Tingle puts the boot in: