Education and the 2025-26 State Budget
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 130 No 5, 1 August 2025, page no 18 & 19.
In the lead-up to the State Budget, the main theme of the LNP state government was that the previous Labor government had left it with a legacy of deficits and debts, and that the task confronting it was one of “budget repair”, reducing a projected $217bn debt facing Queensland by 2028.
Labor claimed that the LNP had deliberately inflated the estimated budget shortfall for 2024-25 to inflate the state’s debt projections, potentially laying the groundwork for asset sales and public service cutbacks. Memories of the slash and burn approach of the previous LNP government under Campbell Newman had public servants holding their breath.
The Budget Papers as delivered on 24 June did indeed paint a picture of ongoing deficits and debt across the period of 2025-26 to 2028-29. However, while “budget repair,” efficiency and cost-saving measures were a feature of the Budget, no major asset sales were announced, and public service numbers are actually forecast to increase marginally in 2025-26 by 2.2 per cent. Overall general government sector expenditure will increase by 5.3 per cent from 2024-25 estimated actual expenditure.
State school expenditure will increase by 5.9 per cent from 2024-25 to 2025-26, driven by the 10-year Better and Fairer Schools Agreement between the state and federal governments to fully fund state schools. TAFE Queensland is again forecast to attain an operating surplus (albeit reduced from 2024-25).
The bad news for the education sector is that, in the name of “fiscal restraint,” the government is holding firm to its wages policy of containing employee expenses. Additionally, the education sector missed out on the general increases in infrastructure spending, with capital works expenditure decreasing for both schools and TAFE from 2024-25 to 2025-26. The Budget also ignored the yet-to-be-released Comprehensive Review of School Resourcing (CRoSR).
Education expenditure
“Education expenditure” — broadly defined to include state school education, non-state school education, early childhood education and care, and training — will be $22.3b in 2025-26. This is a 4.1 per cent increase over estimated actual 2024-25 expenditure (unadjusted for inflation, salary/wage increases, enrolment change and other factors).
Education accounts for 22.3 per cent of total government expenditure, the lowest share it has had for a number of years. However, thanks largely to the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, forward projections have education’s proportion of total government expenditure increasing each year to 2028-29, when it is forecast to constitute 24.3 per cent.
Schools expenditure
State school expenditure is set to be $14.1b in 2025-26, a 5.9 per cent increase over 2024-25 actual expenditure.
Schools capital works/infrastructure
Despite the Budget being spruiked as a spend-fest on infrastructure, capital works expenditure in schools declined significantly. Comparisons to 2024-25 were complicated by the incorporation of a number of other entities into the Department of Education capital works budget (Arts Queensland, the Library Board of Queensland, the Queensland Art Gallery, the Queensland Museum, and the Queensland Performing Arts Trust), but it is clear that the allocation for capital works in schools has declined by 12 to 15 per cent.
No new schools will open in 2026, but the government has provided initial funding for new primary schools at Holmview, Caloundra South and Ripley Valley; new secondary schools in Logan Reserve and Gracemere; a new health sciences academy in Rockhampton; and new special schools or campuses at Logan, Coomera, Springfield/Redbank, Beenleigh, Moreton Bay South and Ipswich West.
Notable initiatives – schools
The Budget Papers identified the following as among the “highlights” of the 2025-26 schools budget:
- $100 per student to support parents, families, and carers with the cost of school essentials from the start of the 2026 school year, totalling $188.6 million over four years.
- The roll out of six new or expanded youth justice and crime prevention schools over five years. Clarification is being sought, but it appears these will not be part of the state schooling system.
- Delivery of more teachers, teacher aides and behavioural support specialists as part of the More Teachers, Better Education commitment, with a total of $222.1 million invested over four years, and a reduced red tape and administrative burden for teachers to enable them to dedicate more time to teaching. The Budget Papers did not contain any specific information on teacher numbers.
- Anti-bullying initiatives, including increasing chaplaincy and wellbeing officer services, and a suite of actions focused on preventing and addressing bullying.
TAFE
In addition to “grants and contributions,” which consist of government subsidies for training provided to eligible students and the state contribution grant received from the Department of Trade, Employment and Training (DTET), TAFE relies heavily on user charges and fees (which in 2024-25 were estimated to generate around 26 per cent of income).
The Budget projects a fall of income from grants and contributions, but predicts that this will be partially compensated for by an increase in income from user charges and fees. TAFE has struggled back onto its feet following the devastation inflicted on it by the neo-liberal free-marketeers and privatisers, and in recent years has been able to post operating surpluses. The Budget projects another operating surplus for 2025-26, albeit a reduced one from 2024-25.
TAFE capital works/infrastructure
The capital program for TAFE Queensland includes items listed under the Department of Trade, Employment and Training (DTET) and items listed under TAFE Queensland. Most of the TAFE facilities are owned by DTET. Combined TAFE and DTET capital works expenditure increased by 7.8 per cent, 2024-25 Budget to 2025-26 Budget, but declined by 11.6 per cent, 2024-25 estimated actual to 2025-26 Budget.
Notable initiatives – TAFE
In the Budget Papers, the government has identified the following “highlights” in VET/TAFE spending:
- Funding of $61.1 million over three years for a new state-of-the-art Rockhampton TAFE excellence precinct.
- Funding of $78 million over four years to deliver a new Caloundra TAFE centre of excellence.
- Funding of $60 million over three years to construct a new Moreton Bay TAFE centre of excellence.
- Up to $50 million held centrally to support National Skills Agreement priorities for Queensland, including actions to build the VET workforce, initiatives to Close the Gap, and measures to support best practice at TAFE.
- Additional funding of $40 million to increase training opportunities for apprentices and trainees to meet growing workforce demand in critical sectors.
- $10 million over two years to extend the delivery of the Free Apprenticeships for Under 25s initiative.
Conclusions
For state school teachers, it was a relief to see that the Crisafulli government did not adopt the slash and burn approach to the public sector that marked the previous LNP government’s time in office. It was also encouraging to see that the Budget Papers reflect the additional funding flowing to state schools from the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement. Measures such as additional support for behaviour management and anti-bullying programs are at least steps in the right direction.
On the other hand, it was disappointing that the yet-to-be-released Comprehensive Review of School Resourcing (CRoSR) continues to be ignored, and there were no specific measures in the Budget to make teaching more attractive as a career. The projected decrease in capital works expenditure was another disappointment.
The budget falls short of delivering on the government’s election commitments of “fixing the teacher workforce crisis,” “providing better teacher support and resources,” and “implementing a zero-tolerance approach to violence in our schools”.
In contrast to the Newman LNP government, which seemed intent on destroying TAFE, the Crisafulli government seems to include TAFE in its vision of VET. There is still a long way to go, however, to establish a fully funded TAFE system, and an emphasis on cost-saving, competition, and efficiency continues to undermine attainment of quality.
Finally, for both state school and TAFE teachers, the Budget provided little hope that EB negotiations will deliver a good salaries outcome, with the government invoking the alleged deficit/debt “crisis” as the rationale for holding firmly to its wages policy.