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Putting Public Education First
Over the last decade, John Kaye and other Greens members of the NSW Upper House have worked hard to make public education a national priority. They have supported teachers’ salary claims, opposed private school funding rorts and the private school for profit rip-off, worked for more ESL teachers and resources for children with special needs, and made equity funding a priority. They campaigned for more funding for TAFE and fairer treatment of part-time casual teachers.
Public education and its values spent a decade under direct attack from the Howard government. The Rees/Iemma/Carr government has failed to protect them and has itself not provided adequate funding, while the new Rudd government appears set to continue with a funding system that reinforces the advantages of the rich.
Further reading:
- The Greens NSW Education Policy.
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27 schools serving the most disadvantaged communities in the state will lose their Priority Actions Schools Program (PASP) funding from 2009.
The sale by the Department of Education violates the Government’s policy that public education lands are not to be sold to private schools.
Latest News:
Rees govt drives public school to junk food outlets
Greens NSW MP John Kaye accused the Rees government of under-funding public schools and forcing them to engage in sponsorship and advertising that compromised their core values.
Firth should ensure that public school ethics pilot flies
NSW Education Minister Verity Firth should give a guarantee that the introduction of ethics classes is not just a stalling tactic to take the heat off until the next election, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Firth misleads school communities on land sell-off
NSW Education Minister Verity Firth is deliberately hiding her government’s Mini-Budget commitment to sell off $239 million of public school lands over the next three years, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Public schools ripped off by centralised purchasing policy
Education Minister Verity Firth's centralised school purchasing system is damaging public schools and small businesses, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Omission is admission: league table website will damage schools
The nation's education ministers' omission of the 'do no damage' principle from their data publishing protocols is an admission that their website will inevitably lead to the humiliation of many schools, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Hurlstone kids pressured to abandon walkathon
The Department of Education has banned a walkathon organised by students opposed to selling land at Hurlstone Agricultural High School, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Special needs education badly under-funded
The Rees government is failing to provide sufficient teachers for students with disabilities in NSW public schools, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Firth's school league tables legislation in trouble
The Rees government's decision to push ahead with legislation to allow the publication of school rankings will damage many schools serving disadvantaged communities, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Rees govt in a corner over dangerous gas heaters
The Rees government's defence of unflued gas heaters in public schools is untenable, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
School ranking website is recipe for education ghettos
Plans by state and federal education ministers to create a website featuring the common test results of all Australian schools will inevitably lead to the most destructive form of league tables, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.
Willoughby Public Forum: Clean energy future for NSW
