National Day of Action announced

Parents, teachers and principals are being encouraged to take part in a National Day of Action in support of greater funding for public schools.

The Day of Action will be held on Tuesday, November 15.

It was announced by the president of the Australian Council of State School Organisations, Peter Garrigan, in Sydney today.

The action is a joint initiative with the Australian Education Union, the Australian Secondary Principals Association and the Australian Government Primary Principals Association.

Mr Garrigan said that as part of the National Day of Action parents, teachers and principals across Australia would be asked to send an email to the head of the federal funding review which is due to finish in December.

“The federal funding review, which is the most comprehensive in over 30 years, is in its final stages.” Mr Garrigan said.

“While much has been done to highlight the need for change and the value of additional funding for public schools, it is important that we take one final step together.

“On this day we are encouraging the public education community to send a message to the head of the review, Mr David Gonski about the benefits of greater investment in public schools.”

Messages will be able to be sent via the forourfuture.org.au website. Copies will be forwarded to the Schools Minister Peter Garrett and local MPs.

AEU Federal President, Angelo Gavrielatos said the National Day of Action was a great chance to demonstrate the high levels of support for greater federal funding for public schools.

“This is the last chance to have our say about what we want for our children and our schools,” Mr Gavrielatos said.

“We know the best place to invest for our future is in public schools. We need to replace the current inequitable system that delivers one third of funding to the public schools which teach two thirds of students with one that ensures public schools have the resources to continue to deliver high quality education to students across Australia.”

The funding review is due to finish in December when the expert panel which is conducting it will hand its recommendations to the Federal Government.

Already the panel has flagged it will recommend the abolition of the current federal funding model, introduced by the Howard Government.

“There is no doubt that the many representations and submissions to the review, as well as the research and evidence presented to the panel, have made a case for a fundamental change in the way we fund schooling at all levels of government,” the panel stated in its recent paper which accompanied the release of four research reports.