The Albanese Labor Government and Cook Labor Government have signed an updated school funding and reform agreement.
As part of this updated agreement, the Commonwealth will provide an additional 5 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) to WA public schools.
This will lift the Commonwealth's contribution from 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the SRS by 2034.
This represents the biggest new investment in WA public schools by the Australian Government ever. This will be tied to reforms to help more students in public schools keep up, catch up and finish high school.
This includes more individualised support for students, mandating evidenced-based teaching practices and more mental health support in schools.
As part of the Agreement, WA will remove the provision put in by the Morrison Government allowing the state to claim 4 per cent of public school funding for indirect school costs such as capital depreciation and replace it with recurrent funding on eligible expenses, while also maintaining a share of at least 75 per cent of the SRS for public schools.
This is not a blank cheque. The Agreement signed today will be followed by an updated WA Bilateral Agreement, which will tie funding to reforms already being delivered in WA schools that will help students catch up, keep up and finish school, such as:
- Year 1 phonics and early years numeracy checks to identify students in the early years of school who need additional help
- evidence-based teaching and targeted and intensive supports such as small-group or catch-up tutoring to help students who fall behind
- support for students to come to school ready to learn, such as greater wellbeing support for learning and engagement, including counsellors, school psychologists and health nurses
- trialling place-based approaches to delivering a full-service school model in at least four WA public schools from 2026 which includes community, health and social services support
- recruiting more co-ordinators to better support students with the most complex needs
- identifying opportunities to reduce workloads and better support teachers and school leaders through professional learning
- providing more support and pathways for people to transition to a teaching career in Western Australian public schools, with a focus on First Nations people, people with disability and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
In addition, the following national targets will be included:
- increasing the proportion of students leaving school with a Year 12 certificate by 7.5 percentage points (nationally) by 2030
- reducing the proportion of students in the NAPLAN 'Needs Additional Support' proficiency level for reading and numeracy nationally by 10 per cent
- increasing the proportion of students in the 'Strong' and 'Exceeding' proficiency levels for reading and numeracy by 10 per cent by 2030 and trend upwards for priority equity cohorts in the 'Strong' and 'Exceeding' proficiency levels nationally
- increasing the Student Attendance Rate, nationally, to 91.4 per cent (2019 level) by 2030
- increasing the engagement rate (completed or still enrolled) of initial teacher education students by 10 percentage points to 69.7 per cent by 2035.
This means more help for students and more support for teachers.
This agreement builds on the previous agreement with Western Australia signed in September last year.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education, Jason Clare:
"This agreement lifts the Commonwealth's contribution to 25 percent of the Schooling Resource Standard for WA public schools.
"This investment is tied to real, practical reforms to help students catch up, keep up and finish school."
Quotes attributable to Premier Roger Cook:
"The Cook Labor Government is firmly committed to doing what is right for WA students, which is why we were the first state to sign the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement in September last year. This further agreement builds on that deal and provides hundreds of millions of dollars of additional Commonwealth funding to the State through to 2034.
"This is fantastic news for Western Australian students and teaching staff, it will provide the essential funding needed to ensure students can keep up, catch up and finish school.
"In particular, students with complex needs will get more support, which is something that the Cook Government has been working on for many years."
Quotes attributable to WA Minister for Education Tony Buti:
"This agreement is good news for Western Australia. Teachers, students and families across the State will benefit as a result of increased funding and increased support for mental health and preparing students for school.
"I am delighted that Western Australia is one of the first jurisdictions to sign up to this new agreement."
