Thursday, 7 March 2024

 Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:52): (735) My question is for the Minister for Education. I have been contacted by a public school council in Western Victoria whose school cannot offer students the same suite of subjects as non-regional schools due to inadequate government funding. This is leading to student attrition in the senior years. Recently the Australian Education Union reported that government schools in Victoria are currently underfunded by over $2000 per student per year, as against the school resource standard, which when translated to this school’s context is at least an additional $2.125 million a year. That kind of funding could go a long way to addressing the problem at this school, so will the government ensure that public schools are fully funded to the school resource standard so that students at this Western Victorian school have fair access to educational opportunities?