Greens – Greens Make The Mining Tax Work For Public Schools

Greens Make The Mining Tax Work For Public Schools

Media Release | Spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young
Wednesday 18th August 2010, 2:10pm
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in Public Education Schooling
The Australian Greens will make the Mining Tax work for Australian education by quarantining some of the proceeds to help struggling public schools, according to Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson on Education, says the delay of the Federal Government’s planned schools funding review means new solutions must be found to deal with the financial pressures on the public education system.

“We know that kids in public schools are struggling because of a flawed and inequitable funding system, and we know that we are facing an imminent teachers shortage as more of our teachers reach retirement age,” Senator Hanson-Young said.

“For Australia to be a leader in the OECD on public school funding, we need to see an extra $5 billion a year.

“The Greens know we can’t wait – public schools need an immediate injection of funds – that’s why we will provide extra funding of $2 billion per year taken from additional proceeds of the mining tax.

“But additional money will not be enough, we also need to attract our best and brightest students to teaching and then to support them in their profession so we can guarantee the quality of education for future generations of Australian children.”

The Greens have announced a Commonwealth Teachers Scholarship program, which would provide 3000 scholarships for up to five years at $5000 a year to allow students to finish degrees – in return recipients would be required to remain in full-time employment in areas of need for at least three years.

Another key initiative is a trial program to provide support and mentoring for new teachers from experienced teachers, and giving funding to assist the states to employ more teachers to allow reduced workloads.

“The Greens recognise the urgent need to provide real support for our public education system, and we have a plan to start making a difference as soon as Parliament returns,” Senator Hanson-Young said.