The Turnbull Government has achieved another win, gaining the support of the 10-member Senate cross-bench for its Gonski-2.0 needs-based funding school model. From The Canberra Times:
An extra $24 billion is set to flow into the nation’s schools over the next decade under a landmark deal struck between the Turnbull government and the Senate crossbench on the “Gonski 2.0” school funding changes.
The government was on the verge of a hard-fought victory on Wednesday night after agreeing to pump $5 billion more into schools, fast-track its spending plan and give Catholic schools a 12-month reprieve before removing their prized system-based funding arrangements.
Despite ferocious opposition from Labor, the Catholic school sector and public sector teacher unions, 10 members of the 12-person Senate crossbench announced their intention to support the government’s new funding model on Wednesday.
The crossbench deal cut out the Greens, who achieved all their key negotiating demands but were too paralysed by internal division to seal a deal with the government…
The government agreed to major concessions to win support for its package, including moving schools to their target funding levels within six years instead of a decade.
The speedier timeline adds $4.9 billion to the $18.6 billion in extra spending over a decade the government had already announced.
It is estimated that $3.3 billion of the new spending secured by the crossbench will flow to public schools.The government will also introduce new rules forcing state governments to increase their school spending and will create an independent schools resourcing body as recommended by the Gonski report.
The Coalition’s breakthrough now puts pressure on Labor, which has vehemently opposed Gonski 2.0 from the start because it offered $22 billion less over 10 years than Labor promised when it was in government. Separately from The Canberra Times:
Politically, Labor’s task has taken a hit. The government moved a long way by agreeing to the needs-based funding principle. As school funding experts have noted, its formula is not perfect but probably less imperfect than was Labor’s ‘political’ hotch-potch.
And while Bill Shorten will argue his party wants to spend another $22 billion, the onus will increasingly fall on him to demonstrate that it is needed, and that he can find the capacity in the budget to justify it.
The Senate vote on Gonski is expected to take place today, and baring some last minute defection from one of the Senate cross-benchers, it looks destined to pass, giving another big win to the Turnbull Government following passage of the bank levy.
