budget 2008
14 May 2008
Viva La Evolution
Rudd and Gillard call for revolution at a local school library
It's a far cry from a "revolution" but the budget has been good to education
Wayne Swan delivered Labor's entire election platform in education and training last night, plus an extra $500 million for the universities sector. The headline total of $19 billion sounds impressive - but Labor knows it has a long way to go to satisfy the demands of a sector largely ignored in John Howard's eleven years of government.Peter Costello's Higher Education Endowment Fund will have another $5 billion tipped into it, and be renamed the Education Investment Fund, which will now expand its scope to include investments in schools and the Vocational, Education and Training sector.
From an "evidence-based policy" perspective, perhaps the most rigorous spending commitments were those in early childhood, particularly the pledge to fund hundreds of new early childhood education centres across the country. There's money for training early childhood educators, $20.2 million (including existing funding of $2.8 million) over five years to roll out the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) nationally and a whopping $1.6 billion for the Child-Care Tax Rebate, which now increases to up to $7,500 annually. This measure is being sold by Lindsay Tanner and Julia Gillard as part of the Government's productivity and participation agenda, with the aim of encouraging more mums into the workforce.
Election promises relating to schooling are also ticked off. The money for "trades centres" in high schools is delivered, including an extra top-up for information and communication technology in schools as part of the "digital education revolution". Also supported is Kevin Rudd's cherished Asian languages funding, reversing one of the most near-sighted policy decisions of the Howard years.
There were the promised tax breaks for families spending money on their kids' education, totalling up to $750 per child in primary school and $1500 per child in secondary school. This money will be delivered through Family Tax Benefit A, ironically entrenching one of the Howard government's key family welfare payments. This will cost $4 billion over several years.
Swan's commitment to delivering ALP election promises is a bigger problem for the higher education sector, which missed out on a meaningful increase in base funding. There was at least the promised funding to pay for the phase-out of full-fee domestic students, but at only $200 million, many will wonder if it's going to be enough. A one-off $500 million fillip for university infrastructure looks suspiciously like a bribe to keep Vice-Chancellors quiet for a few months - and they're now in such a desperate situation, it might work. But the sector misses out on a specific funding mechanism to address the collapse of student services in the wake of Voluntary Student Unionism, which will hurt.
All told, it's a long way short of a "higher education revolution" - or indeed an education revolution of any sort. Real pressure for increased universities base funding will now be put on Julia Gillard in the run up to the release of the Bradley Report.
Nevertheless, this is indeed a strong education budget. Unlike the Howard government's ideologically obsessed policies around Australian Technical Colleges, private schools and vouchers, it marks a welcome return to a belief in public investment in public education.
But more will need to be delivered in future budgets if the Rudd Government is to achieve even evolution in this sector, let alone lasting change.
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Come on Ben, thanks for the commentary, but you can do better than that. Tell us how much you love the budget, tell us why you think it’s the best budget you’ve seen in a long time and tell us where how and why you would do it differently.
Hi Rockjaw
Well, it’s the best education budget we’ve seen in eleven years - but that’s not saying much is it?
I’m not the Federal Treasurer but I do advocate that Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd so quite a few things differently - rewriting the SES schools funding formula would be a great place to start. Coming up with a solution to the VSU disaster would be a good second step.
And, without pre-empting the results of the Bradley Review, guaranteeing a 10-year timetable for real increases in base funding for universities would be my third step. If we can do it for Defence, with its $22 billion dollar budget, then we can do it for higher education, with a budget around a third the size.
Thanks Ben for reminding us what a mean sob that Howard was with his defunding of Asian languages in schools, and that ideological swipe at uni unions.
Uni can be a very daunting place for students and I recall a sense of belonging to not only the odd sports association, but the university union, and the students union. And for a fair time, comm scholarship aside, it was free, at least for my first undergrad degree.
Oh Gough, why have you forsaken us.
I just can’t help but feel that now we have Kevin 07, that Bernard from Yes Minister/Prime Minister has been elected P.M.
Yes Prime Minister…But where lurks Sir Humphrey?!
it is going to take a long time to roll back the damage done by howard’s aggressive neo liberal policies. call me conservative, but i am jumping for joy at even these humble beginnings that demonstrate reinvestment and revaluing of the public system, both in regards to health and education. with more fund for state based high schools, universities and early learning centres (not to mention the removal of enforced uptake of private health insurance, and the ‘slicing off of much of the fat’ that is middle class welfare), the rudd government is taking steps to a more egalitarian society. of course there is a long way to go, but i think it is much to expect - both economically and politically - that he will swing so far in one budget and after 6 mths in power.
A mixed bag indeed, Ben. I agree – three cheers for pre-schools, a long overdue initiative.
The problem is that the budget throws big money at popular yet sometimes unproven initiatives. I really wonder if any educators gave advice on the forthcoming rollout of computers. I know some schools have a laptop for every kid but this has as much to do with marketing high-fee schools as it does to do with education. Frankly one computer per kid guarantees nothing. A ratio of 1:4 with the savings directed to other school priorities would be preferable.
I guess Rudd learned at the knee of Bob Carr who could probably credit at least one election win to his rollout of computers. At least since then we have learned how to turn them on.
I also have reservations about the amount of money going into trade training. The vocational education, at least in NSW schools (in conjunction with TAFEs and industry), is a real success story….but exactly how much more is needed?
In education the Rudd budget suffers from much the same problems as the Summit: endless energy or funding poured into matters of dubious value…..while other big issues remain unresolved. The best example is the accelerating and unchecked commonwealth funding of private schools. Even the Howard government showed some signs of being nervous about this. Sure, Ben, the Rudd government doesn’t suffer from ideological obsession, but has yet to display evidence of real courage.
In the meantime my best advice to the new managers of the treasury is to practice using the word “public”. It is easy: just gently blow air to force the lips apart to form the letter ‘p’ – it doesn’t even have to be hot air!