Work underway on QTU State Budget Submission
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 124 No 8, 8 November 2019, page no. 17
The 2020/21 QTU State Budget Submission will call on the Queensland Government to value education and equity and support all educators in creating great teaching and learning opportunities for Queensland’s state school and TAFE students, enabling them to become successful contributors to their community.
The submission will make recommendations broadly framed within the following aims.
1. Funding educational equity
The QTU will reaffirm its calls for all levels of government to deliver state school funding that addresses educational equity. The QTU knows that the Invest for Success program is supporting schools in delivering improved educational outcomes, but sustaining levels of improvement requires governments to ensure that Queensland state schools are funded to 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard. The QTU will also reaffirm its call for the Queensland Government to increase education’s proportional share of the state budget to at least 25 per cent and to sustain this increase across the forward estimates.
2. Funding skills and training
The QTU has long argued at state level for governments to guarantee at least 70 per cent of their training budget to TAFE. Our budget submission will again call on the Queensland Government to commit to increasing the state’s training budget, as well as increasing TAFE’s proportional share. The funding increases to TAFE should be allocated without the requirement of growth through efficiencies.
3. Funding teaching and learning
- Extra teachers to place downward pressure on class sizes
- Ensuring safe schools by prioritising funding to support mechanisms including prevention of occupational violence and harassment, both online and in workplaces, of staff and students.
- Increased measures to attract and retain teachers and school leaders throughout the state, including the Remote Area Incentive Scheme being fully funded through Treasury and improving the quality and security of teacher accommodation.
- Funding to resource the professional development of collegial communities, as well as release for teachers and school leaders to plan, trial, implement and review all curriculum needs being delivered.
- Ensuring enterprise bargaining commitments that specifically mitigate workload are fully funded and that recommendations of the Workload Advisory Council are operational at the earliest opportunity.
4. Funding specialist services
The QTU recognises the right of all Queensland young people to be able to access great state schools and believes that access to educational equity is, in part, reliant on the Queensland Government ensuring that funding is available for specialist services. The Queensland Government must deliver increased availability of guidance services that meet forecast enrolment growth and support the increasingly complex needs of young people and their families in every primary, secondary and special school. The QTU will also call on the Department of Education to establish a staffing model for students with disability that is fully funded, transparent and has fixed staffing and resourcing ratios. The QTU has long called for the establishment of up to 60 positive learning centres for students across all year levels, accessible to students and their families regardless of their geographic location. The QTU supports recognition of educational equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and educators and calls for funding to support schools in developing and implementing their own Narragunnawali reconciliation action plans.
5. Funding educational facilities
The submission will call for increased funding of capital works for state schools. The Queensland Government must commit to building special schools that are accessible to Queenslanders regardless of their geographic location, as well as building the primary and secondary schools that are required to meet projected growth. The QTU has long called for state-of-the-art and fit-for-purpose education facilities throughout the state, as well as a fully costed plan to deliver climate control measures in Queensland state schools.
The QTU 2020/21 State Budget Submission continues to be shaped with the support of QTU branches and elected representatives. The submission will be referred to QTU Executive for endorsement before it is provided to the Queensland Government and a copy made available on the QTU website.