Education Matters
Kindergarten funding the latest government debacle
Wednesday, 01 September 2010 14:01
The LNP has conducted a vigorous campaign against a new funding model for kindergartens that would see huge reductions in State government support for kindergartens and dramatic increases in fees.
Click here to read my latest speech to Parliament Click here to read Questions in Estimates Sitting Click here to read response to Estimates
In response to pressure, the government announced that it would make one-off payments to kindergartens in the 2011 year to offset the funding cuts.
Quite bizarrely, on the eve of a federal election, the State government has circulated a letter through the C&K organisation to parents whose children attend community kindergartens, claiming that they have in fact dramatically backflipped and will not cut funding to individual kindergartens prior to 2014.
Read more: Kindergarten funding the latest government debacle
State School Children no cover for serious injury
Friday, 13 August 2010 14:34
It continues to be a concern to me as LNP Shadow Minister for Education and Training that children in State schools do not have any form of insurance cover in the event of serious injury such as spinal injury or brain injury.
These sort of catastrophic injuries do occur occasionally in contact sports, rope and rock climbing activities as well as falls and the like.
Private schools by and large ensure children are insured for catastrophic injury as do private sports clubs. Cover for catastrophic injury is available at very modest cost. Many parents of State school students would not even be aware that their children are going on to the football field or the school camp with nothing in the event that they were seriously injured and this would not be accepted in almost any other childhood program.
I have called on the government to ensure that each child particularly those engaging in contact sports and school camps is at the very least offered an insurance policy. The government’s ability to negotiate a corporate rate would ensure that parents had easy access to cheap insurance that would cover them in the event of catastrophic injury.
These types of injuries would typically be associated by lengthy hospitalisation, expensive rehabilitation, home modifications, special needs and care, as well as possibly lifelong loss of income. It is just not acceptable that the only avenue of support available is to sue the Department of Education and be dragged through the courts for years trying to prove negligence. A simple and cheap insurance policy would ensure there was something there to help families in this setting.
Click here to read the speech I delivered in Parliament and I do encourage you to read it because I do think it is an important issue.
Friday, 13 August 2010 14:00
Most dangerous asbestos product yet found in schools
The government discovered the extensive use of an extremely dangerous asbestos product in schools yet took two years to even inspect schools for its presence and even then failed to communicate the seriousness of the danger to schools or to parents.
The product known as “asbestolux” or low density board (LDB) is almost pure asbestos lightly compressed into a board. Unlike fibro sheets It is not contained in any cement matrix and it contains up to ten times the amount of asbestos as normal asbestos building sheets.
Potentially lethal asbestos can be released into the air with minor trauma of any sort to the product.Read more: Most dangerous asbestos product yet found in schools
Education takes brunt of budget spending cut
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 09:54
Shadow Education Minister Dr Bruce Flegg told parliament today that education had borne the brunt of government spending cuts in response to the State government debt crisis.
The total State Education budget increased by only a little over half the rate of increase of State government budget spending. The 3.6% increase in Education spending shows a significant reduction in the share of the State budget allocated to Education, considering the State budget as a whole grew by 6.25%. In fact, over the past five years Education has dropped from over 25% of the budget to only 23.4%.
Put another way, the total increase in Education spending will just cover the increase in staff wages as a result of wage rises and enrolment growth. Beyond covering these staffing costs, there is not one extra cent in this year’s Education budget for anything else. This means that all forms of student and teacher support, and resourcing will decrease in real terms.
A famous American educator said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” I don’t see how with less resources, teachers and students can be expected to manage the huge changes underway in education such as National Curriculum.
The budget per child in primary school increased by only half a percent from last year and the budget for students in State secondary schools has reduced by $400 per child. We are supposed to be the Smart State.
Children with disabilities
This year’s budget sees a marked wind back in the commitment to children with disabilities. Over the past year we have closed four special schools (reduced from 47 to 43) despite enrolments in special schools having increased from 3,325 to 3,390.
Students with disabilities who need specialist support enrolled in State schools have skyrocketed from 19,090 to 20,230.
In the most alarming figures, whilst 93% of parents with a student in Special Schools were satisfied with the treatment they received, parental satisfaction of disabled children in general State Schools fell dramatically to only 78.2%, well below the State government’s own target of 84%.
Despite $28,127 on average being budgeted for each child with a serious disability last year, the actual amount spent was $1,000 per child less and next year’s budget strips yet another $140 per child.
I recently visited one of Queensland’s special schools and came away with enormous admiration for the job being done by our teachers. These children have severe physical and intellectual impairments that affect their maturity and their behaviour as well as physical dependence on the teacher who is caring for them.
I don’t see how we can be extracting so much out of the budget for Special Education. The government’s response, sadly, has been to announce that from next year’s budget they will cease publishing the above performance measures.
Bligh fails National Curriculum test
Friday, 25 June 2010 14:02
The Bligh Government’s decision to abandon the introduction of the National Curriculum in 2011 is an admission of their woefully inadequate preparation.
The LNP has been warning the Government for months that they were completely unprepared for the introduction of National Curriculum and that it risked being a disaster for Queensland schools..
You can’t make a massive change of this nature without extensive professional development preparing our dedicated teachers and without significant additional resources into our schools.
Under the circumstances the Government was forced into abandoning the 2011 introduction.More Articles...
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