Public School Funding

Mrs PEARCE (King) (14:53): My question is to the Minister for Education, Training and Skills. Can the minister update the house on the progress of negotiations with the Albanese Labor government to fully fund public schools?

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills) (14:54): I thank the member for King for her question. It was a proud moment for me and the Premier and this government when we joined the members for King and Newland at The Heights technical school almost two weeks ago today to announce that we have struck an agreement, finally, with the federal Albanese Labor government to fully fund for the very first time in South Australia our public schools. Of course, it was pleasing, as the local member for Modbury Heights, to make that announcement at The Heights Technical College, where I was also joined by a number of federal members of parliament from the Labor team, who have been integral in getting this agreement over the line.

It has, I have to say, been a hard-fought battle to get here. We stood, and I stood personally, with education ministers from both New South Wales and Victoria outside the federal parliament to call on the Prime Minister and Jason Clare, the federal education minister, to increase their offer, which was originally 2.5 per cent, up to the full 5 per cent, which is how we get our schools to the 100 per cent figure that David Gonski set out as the minimum amount that was needed for a good education all those years ago.

I say it was hard because I have an enormous amount of respect for the federal education minister, Jason Clare, who has had a schooling experience very similar to my own. He went through public schools all the way through. I might somewhat tongue-in-cheek say we both went to the kind of public schools that people aren't moving locations or suburbs to get access to, but nonetheless we are both very, very proud products of public education. It was not an easy thing to stand up and call on him to do more, but we got there.

What it means for our schools here in South Australia, what that 5 per cent means in terms of extra funding across the 10 years of this agreement that the Premier has signed with the Prime Minister, is an extra $1 billion of commonwealth funding to those schools, an enormous amount of money that we know we need and we know will be put to good use by our educators.

Let me just be clear about the significance of that announcement and the significance of that amount of money. This is the biggest investment in South Australian public schools by a federal government ever. It is something that we should not forget. I am pleased also to advise the chamber that the Malinauskas Labor government has agreed with the federal Albanese government to remove the ability of state governments to count capital depreciation towards annual funding contributions, which comes on top of the 5 per cent agreement from the federal government.

Where will this money go? We are talking about more individualised support for children and students in public schools who really need it, but we need to keep in mind that it's not just about those students who might be behind. Public education should not just be seen in the context of supporting students from only disadvantaged backgrounds because public education is there for those students who are high achievers as well. I think it is very important that in this place we all do what we can to remember that this extra $1 billion over 10 years of the agreement will also go towards making sure that our educators can really stretch and challenge those kids in our public schools who are already excelling in their learning, and that is what this will enable us to do.

We have agreed with the federal government, as you would expect with such a large amount of money, that it will be tied to some things: improvement in attendance levels, more students completing year 12, giving students the quality learning and teaching they need and supporting our teachers wherever we can to make sure that they can focus on the teaching and learning that we want them to do and not be focused on administrative tasks. I am very proud the Malinauskas Labor government and the Albanese Labor government have finished the job. While we did that, we also delivered on another election commitment here from this government.