EDUCATION (CLOSURE AND AMALGAMATION OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (16:54): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Education Act 1972. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (16:55): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill ensures that a government school cannot be closed or amalgamated except in accordance with a resolution that is passed by both houses of parliament. It builds on the previous work in part 2 of the Education Act which requires the minister to undertake a review process and also to produce a copy of a committee's report and recommendations under section 14E to be laid before each house of parliament within six sitting days of receiving that report and its recommendations, as is the current situation. Importantly, however, this bill will ensure that the minister is, in fact, bound by the recommendations and decisions of the school community in relation to either a closure or amalgamation of a school with the scrutiny of a parliamentary process to follow that decision-making process by the school community.

This has obviously been an area much debated in South Australian politics. I acknowledge that previous work done to amend the Education Act—to ensure that closure and amalgamations of schools were, in fact, able to be subject to a review process and that relevant stakeholders were to be consulted and the minister more accountable to the public—has had quite a history. I take note of the work, in particular, of the Hon. Mike Elliott, the Hon. Caroline Schaefer, the former member for Taylor (Hon. Trish White), and the former member for Chaffey (Hon. Karlene Maywald) in this area.

It has been a much debated area and, as members would be aware, the closure or amalgamation of a school is something that the community takes very seriously and has quite profound effects on both the school community and the local community concerned. At present, of course, there are requirements that the committee must have regard to the educational, social and economic needs of the local community and that recommendations must be taken with a view to this and the broader needs of not only the community but the state as a whole when making their recommendations to the minister.

However, a school that chooses to oppose either closure or amalgamation does not have the security that a minister will be bound by the decision of the committee. It may, in fact, fall to the minister to put a school community through a quite extensive consultation and review process and then simply to reject the decision without the parliament having any say. This bill would give the parliament and therefore those communities a right of appeal.

We know that, as a result of the 2010 Rann budget cuts, the situation was initially to try to merge 67 co-located schools across the state. It was a budget measure that was announced with the aim of saving some $5.5 million by merging any schools that shared a campus or were co-located. There was a move very early on regarding those 67 co-located schools, and the Minister for Education (and soon to be premier), the Hon. Jay Weatherill, has, in fact, backed away from the forced amalgamation of any of the high schools in those projected savings cuts. He has done so, saying that the high school amalgamations are a little more complicated and, in fact, admitting that they would not have saved much money, anyway.

Many of the schools are very happy about this. The schools I have spoken to in the north and north-eastern suburbs, which have already undergone amalgamation in the past few years, are breathing a sigh of relief because they have been able to get on with the job of educating their students and building strong communities in their school and in their local government areas. The minister did so with the proviso that those high schools which did not wish to participate in the current amalgamation process had only to 'provide sufficient information to reach a conclusion about whether they want to amalgamate'.

Those schools there have been let off the hook, but we still have some 42 junior primary and primary schools currently facing amalgamation. For those schools which do not voluntary want to be amalgamated, they are now undergoing that quite extensive and exhaustive process, which involves, in accordance with the legislation, a review committee comprised of representatives from the schools, the principals, governing council nominees, minister's nominees, DECS' nominees, local government representatives and union involvement, with support officers and paid facilitators.

The committees need to meet several times. They are calling for submissions from their local school communities, and they are considering that information and presenting reports to the minister. This involves countless school meetings and countless hours of volunteer time—time that could be much better spent contributing to building a strong school environment.

Under the former minister, Jane Lomax-Smith, when she was minister for education, and then under the Minister for Early Childhood Development, Jay Weatherill, Labor policy was that a decision to close or amalgamate a school rested with the parents of the children at each of these schools, and that was articulated in the news release of 21 May 2009, which stated:

The state government has repeatedly given a commitment that state schools and preschools in South Australia can only close or amalgamate with the support of local school communities.

This remained policy and practice after the Hon. Jay Weatherill was given the early childhood portfolio. In a joint news release with then minister Lomax-Smith of 26 November 2009, he also said:

Education Works is completely voluntary and majority vote of parents is required before changes to the way individual schools operate can be pursued.

This is to be commended and applauded, but this is not the case at the moment. This policy and this process, which was undertaken only a few years ago, has had some repercussions in that one particular school—and I would point to Largs Bay—which only a short time ago voted no to amalgamation, is being put through a review process again.

The PRESIDENT: They are in the same grounds.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Yes, Mr President, they are co-located, therefore they are falling under these particular budget cuts, and this time the amalgamations are not being done with any view to improved education; they are being done to save money in the budget.

The PRESIDENT: It makes sense to me.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: It may make sense to you, Mr President—

The PRESIDENT: Hear, hear!

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: —but it does not seem to make sense to those school communities that are actively opposing the amalgamations. No, not every school community is actively opposing the amalgamations, but there are quite a few that are doing so. There are many in the community—and education union president Correna Haythorpe is one—who believe that schools should have the final decision about merging. Correna Haythorpe says:

There are grave concerns about the review process in that it is unclear whether the minister will uphold a community's decision to stay as two independent schools rather than amalgamate.

She says, and I agree with her:

We think it needs to be clear so the communities feel comfortable that this process is not just a fait accompli.

This is something that I think may go back to that debate we were having a little earlier about core Labor values. One would think that grassroots democracy and the protection of public education would in fact be core Labor values, but I wait to be corrected on that.

I would also again draw attention to the fact that the Largs Bay school community had an 88 per cent vote against amalgamation just some short years ago. Here they are being required again to go through a review process, a review process that is going to end up in a loss of SSOs, a loss of funding to those schools. While money will be put into administration, no moneys are being offered for enhancing the educational opportunities for those schools.

Another school community that is quite opposed to this and where I attended a public meeting with the Hon. John Dawkins—the current treasurer, Jack Snelling, was also at that meeting—is that of the Para Hills school communities.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: He is the local member.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Yes, he is the local member, and he was doing so in his guise as the local member. He did that make that very clear when they asked him a question. Thank you, the Hon. John Dawkins. That meeting was of over 130 parents and concerned residents, who were shocked to find out that it is the minister who has the final say, that they are being put through the mill, asked to provide an inordinate amount of work to tell the minister why they should not be closed, with no guarantee that the minister will take that work seriously.

Given the government has moved to amalgamate co-located schools on purely financial grounds, I am not sure what reasons they can give, unless they can find the government some money to boost their budget. So we will wait and see and remain hopeful that this Labor government will in fact find those core Labor values in the bottom drawer somewhere.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: Don't hold your breath.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I won't be holding my breath, so what I am doing is introducing this bill. This bill would have the effect of ensuring that those school communities' voices were heard, not just by the minister, who could then reject them, but in the other place and in this place if they had valid reasons, sound educational reasons, and they were about building community capacity and not simply budget cuts that had to be found from somewhere. The Greens do not believe the most appropriate place to start is with an education budget slash and burn, but perhaps the government will continue to perpetuate that line.

For some of these communities this is not the first time in the last few years, but repeated efforts have been made. Those efforts are being put into fighting off amalgamations and closures when they could be put into building those school communities, into fundraising, into ensuring that volunteers are helping out and supporting the educational outcomes of those schools rather than simply the absolute existence of those schools. The Labor government is obviously looking to change its leadership and I am heartened that it is the current education minister who will become the new premier as of 21 October. Does that happen at midnight?

The Hon. S.G. Wade: It does.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: It does happen at midnight. Good, I am greatly assured by that. I will hope that Cinderella is the one who will appear and not the pumpkin. I hope that, having carried the education portfolio, this premier-to-be, not quite premier-elect, will in fact be an education premier and this will be a Labor education government. With that, I commend this bill to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.M. Gazzola.