NT bails on funding plan
The NT Government has walked back education funding claims just days after they were made.
The Northern Territory's Education Minister, Eva Lawler, has backtracked on her previous statement regarding the allocation of federal funding to Central Australian schools.
Earlier this week, Lawler had declared that the controversial “effective enrolment” method would be used to distribute $40 million in funding.
However, in a recent statement, she announced a shift in approach, stating that the funding would now be allocated based on enrolment figures.
Lawler said that using accurate enrolment figures would ensure schools in the Central Region receive funding closer to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).
The move marks a significant victory for critics of the attendance-based funding method, which has long been denounced by education experts and the NT's education union for its perceived inequity.
Reports have revealed that some remote schools end up receiving funding for less than half of their enrolled students under this system.
The Northern Territory's education union, which has consistently raised concerns about the funding method, expressed relief and welcomed the change in approach.
President Michelle Ayres applauded the decision and called for similar equity packages to be distributed across the territory, where schools continue to be funded based on effective enrolment.
Ayres highlighted the existing disparity in funding levels, pointing out that NT schools currently receive an average of only 80 per cent of the School Resource Standard as set out in the Gonski Review.
This leaves one in every five students in NT public schools without adequate funding, with schools in greatest need being the hardest hit due to the current funding distribution method.