The passage of the Turnbull government’s “Gonski 2.0” funding package through the senate early Friday morning met with mixed reactions in Bendigo, with divisions falling along well-worn lines.
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While the government and independent sectors welcomed the funding boost, Catholic schools were left feeling shortchanged.
Golden Square Primary School principal Barry Goode described the needs-based cash injection as “absolutely vital” for the region’s schools.
“It would be a catastrophe to see that disappear, the amount of additional resources we have been able to put in would be in jeopardy if that funding didn’t continue,” he said.
“And it takes a sustained period of time to do that, not just a couple of years, we need it over a longer period of time to really make a difference.”
Victory Christian College principal Anne Marie Rodgers also hailed the legislation as a win for her school’s sector.
“We’re a low fee-paying independent school so the additional funds that are projected through Gonski 2.0 will assist us in providing programs for our students to meet their individual learning needs,” she said.
But Marist College Bendigo principal Darren McGregor maintained the Catholic sector’s opposition to the reforms, saying while it was a complex issue, “Catholic education will be significant losers out of this”.
“We’re extremely disappointed with where it’s at,” he said.
“I think it’s going to go on for quite some time because there’ll be groups across all areas of education saying ‘Well yeah, this isn’t ideal,” he said.
Bendigo-based senator Bridget McKenzie said the bill would ensures a fairer, needs-based funding arrangement and remove the “special deals and complexities” under Labor’s previous Gonski model.
“As a former teacher it concerns me that Australia’s performance in national and international testing is declining or at best standing still,” she said.
“So the message is clear, we need to act now to ensure our children have the best possible chance to succeed in a changing world. I have every confidence that the reforms that will now be introduced will change the current trend and give students the very best chance in life now and into the future.”
Prior to the vote, federal member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters described claims Gonski 2.0 would increase funding in the Bendigo electorate as “stretching the truth”.
“There are significant pockets of disadvantage across Bendigo where parents and carers are struggling to buy uniforms and provide lunches for their children to attend school,” she said.
“That’s why Labor’s needs-based funding plan, the original Gonski, invested significantly in these schools – to give the kids a chance to break intergenerational poverty.”