The 2022 Report on Government Services (ROGS) released by the Productivity Commission shows the extent of the Morrison Government’s failure to fairly and adequately resource public education.

“The data is yet more proof of the Morrison Government’s ongoing failure in public education,” AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said.

“From preschool to TAFE, Australian children are at risk of being left behind by the Morrison Government.

“The facts are clear. Australians cannot trust the Morrison Government to fairly fund public schools. They contribute just 16 per cent of the funding for the education of the majority of Australian students.”

On school funding, the data shows:

• Public schools had 2.6 million FTE students enrolled (65.6 per cent of all FTE students) in 2019-20.
• The Morrison Government provides just 16 per cent of public school funding.
• Total recurrent funding for private schools from the Morrison Government has grown at 1.8 times the rate of public schools in the last decade.

“The Morrison Government continues to strip funding from vocational education and training, while their investment in universal access for four-year-old preschool has declined in real terms,” Ms Haythorpe said.

On vocational education and training and early childhood education, the data shows:

• Since the Morrison Government was elected in 2013, real terms government expenditure on VET has declined by $1.1 billion (15.9 per cent).
• This is a decline from the 2012 peak of $7.9 billion.
• Preschool funding has declined by $77.6 million (14.9 per cent) in real terms since the Coalition took government in 2013, while the number of children attending preschool has remained stable at 268,000 since 2016.

“Australian students and their families, along with their dedicated teachers, principals and education support staff deserve much better,” Ms Haythorpe said.

“We need a federal government that will put public education first.

“The coming federal election is an opportunity to elect a government committed to ensuring every student can enjoy the benefits of a fairly and adequately resourced public education system.”