Teaching and learning at Illawarra and South Coast schools has received a multimillion-dollar boost via ongoing needs-based funding, new data has revealed.
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The NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) has released an electorate-by-electorate breakdown of individual school funding, allocated as part of the Gonski model.
The union is fighting the Turnbull government to secure additional cash in this year’s federal budget, amid fears Gonski funding will be cut at the end of this year.
Campaigners, including Illawarra Labor MPs Sharon Bird and Stephen Jones, gathered outside Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday.
The rally came after the Gonski bus visited Kanahooka’s Hayes Park Public School on Tuesday.
Mr Jones said Hayes Park, in his electorate of Whitlam, was “a brilliant example of what additional funding can do for kids”.
“They’ve received over $500,000 to date, which is helping to improve literacy, staff development, technology use and support greater individual learning for students,” he said.
The school’s principal Phil Seymour told the Mercury the money had allowed the introduction of a “learning lab”, which helps students who are struggling to grasp reading and spelling.
The school has also been able to buy more iPads to complement its bring your own device (BYOD) system.
“Not all the kids can afford it [a device], so we’ve got others that they can share and use,” Mr Seymour said.
The school had planned to use the additional Gonski money to put greater emphasis on maths teaching.
The NSWTF said only 40 per cent of Gonski funding had been allocated since 2014; the remaining money was expected in 2018-19.
“Malcolm Turnbull is about to cut funding to all schools across Australia by demolishing the Gonski model,” NSWTF president Maurie Mulheron said.
“The Gonski model brings transition funding for another two years and the next two years of funding, which will be about 60 per cent of the money, he’s not going to fund.”
Ms Bird said funding anything less than the full Gonski model was “robbing local kids of lifelong opportunities”.
“The Liberal Party needs to put their money where their mouth is and … deliver Gonski funding,” she said.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said school funding would grow from $16 billion last year to more than $20 billion in 2020.
“Our funding growth means there’s no reason schools won’t be able to continue to support teachers and new or existing initiatives, such as specialist teachers or targeted intervention programs,” Mr Birmingham said.