Every state school in Queensland should make a submission to the federal government's review of school funding – that's the ambitious objective set by the Australian Education Union and the QTU.

The formation of the ALP minority government following the recent federal election means that the review will now proceed, making it the first such open review since 1973.

Submissions are expected to be called in October and will only remain open for six weeks. Teacher unions around the country will be making major submissions to the review, but the QTU's aim is to encourage school submissions that make esoteric arguments about funding real – "if we had more money, we'd be able to ....."

Ideally, these should be made on behalf of the entire school community – parents as well as principal and staff. However, submissions can be made by QTU members at a school or even individual members where that is not possible. A campaign kit will be sent to each school, simplifying and demystifying the preparation of submissions.

Term four is a bad time of year, but regrettably, that is outside our control. However, the Union hopes that submissions will for the most part draw on existing school documents.

In outline, the submission being suggested by the QTU will have five parts:

• your school's profile, including the context of the school community and student population
• the school's programs
• positive school achievements
• unmet needs or aspirations that could be addressed with additional funding
• problems with raising supplementary funds in the school community.

Low SES National Partnership schools may have a special role, being directly involved in the allocation of additional funding to improve student outcomes.

The AEU also plans a major national advertising campaign in conjunction with the review to encourage submissions in support of public education.

The terms of reference of the review were established earlier this year. They are complex, but many will be addressed in union submissions rather than those of individual school communities.

The first broad reference area is how funding arrangements can support improved educational outcomes – particularly in areas of recognised educational disadvantage.

The second concerns the role of federal and state and territory governments in funding and the factors affecting the cost of ensuring that every student has access to a world-class education and the factors influencing those costs over time.

The third area concerns the most effective means of distributing funding to schools.

The last area concerns the appropriate accountability and transparency standards for public funding and the data collection required to monitor standards of delivery and educational outcomes.

The expert review panel established for the review comprises the chair David Gonski AC, a businessman who is also Chancellor of the University of New South Wales and chair of the Australian Securities Exchange, Dr Ken Boston AO, Professor Carmen Lawrence, Kathryn Greiner AO and Dr Peter Tannock AM.

QTU officers met with the chair of the panel in July this year as part of the initial consultation concerning the funding review. While the federal government had announced that no school would receive less funding, the QTU argued that, since the bulk of the "heavy lifting" of education of students at risk or with educational disadvantage was done by state schools, that is where any additional federal funding should be directed.

In particular, the QTU noted Professor Barry McGaw's analysis of Australia education system as a high quality, low equity system and the low average levels of public funding going into education in comparison with the rest of the OECD.

Graham Moloney
Deputy General Secretary

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Volume 33 Number 7, 1 October 2010, p13