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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-27 Daily Xml
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YUNTA RURAL SCHOOL

The Hon. G.M. GUNN (Stuart) (15:04): I direct my question—

The Hon. I.F. Evans: Have a good Christmas, Michael.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Stuart.

The Hon. G.M. GUNN: My question is directed to the Minister for Education. Can she give an assurance that there will be no changes to the Yunta Rural School without the agreement of the parents whose children attend that school? I have received a letter from the chairman of the governing council of that school, which states:

The Yunta community is proud of its school, which is seen as the 'hub' of the community—and, indeed, a vital asset to our small remote town.

Another letter states:

Our community strongly supports the continued provision of R-7 education at Yunta Rural School for the district. Despite the current student enrolments being low, we believe student numbers will increase in the next few years.

I point out to the minister that there are some 80 kilometres between Yunta and Peterborough.

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (15:06): I thank the honourable member for his question. He is a great advocate for the schools in his constituency. He has on many occasions brought to my attention problems, which I have endeavoured to resolve and have occasionally succeeded in resolving for him.

The Yunta community is one that has had shocks over the years. It has had declining enrolments and services have changed, with council amalgamations, and a whole range of things have happened over many years. I think that that community is a very hardworking one, with a very good school. If the member believes from the evidence he has that there will be more enrolments in the future, I am delighted, because we certainly understand that even small regional schools deserve the funding to maintain viability. Of course, there has been much debate about various funding models over the years and I have always said that, irrespective of how we fund large or medium-sized schools, small schools, particularly in regional areas, will always receive a larger per capita overall allocation of funding because they do not have the economies of scale.

I will reassure the member that that policy has not changed. We understand that small regional remote and distant schools clearly cost more money to manage, and we will continue with those increased allocations of funds to support those small schools. I hope that the Yunta community has a good Christmas and manages to engage more young children and enrol more children, and I wish the community well.

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