Bills Digest No. 25 2003-04
States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education
Assistance) Amendment Bill 2003
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
States Grants (Primary and
Secondary Education Assistance) Amendment Bill
2003
Date
Introduced: 26 June
2003
House:
Representatives
Portfolio:
Education, Science and
Training
Commencement:
Royal Assent
The purpose of this Bill is to amend the
States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act
2000 (the current Act) to provide additional funding for
capital grants for non-government schools for the years 2004 to
2007 and additional funding for school literacy and numeracy
programs and projects for the years 2003 and 2004.
Background
As part of the 2003 04 Budget the Minister for
Education, Science and Training committed a further $48.2 million
for capital grants for non-government schools over four years from
2004 to 2007 and another $210 million for literacy and numeracy
programs.(1) The additional literacy and numeracy
funding will be provided over the next four years to 2006 07.
The Bill gives effect to these measures. It
provides the additional capital funding for non-government schools
for the years 2004 to 2007. It also provides, from the $210 million
additional funding for literacy and numeracy, an additional $44.6
million for the years 2003 and 2004. The remainder of the
additional funding for literacy and numeracy will be provided by
future legislation. The explanatory memorandum states that the
funding provided by the Bill has no financial impact because it is
already provided in the Budget forward estimates.
Capital grants assist government and
non-government school authorities with the provision and upgrading
of school infrastructure. This infrastructure includes land,
buildings, water and electricity, equipment, library materials and
cataloguing services, furniture, and residential accommodation for
government school students.
According to figures in the 2001 report on
financial assistance granted under the current Act, capital grants
represent about 6 per cent of total Commonwealth specific purpose
payments for schools.(2) The majority of these grants
are allocated to government schools.
From 1996 to 2001 Commonwealth capital grants
totalled $1.85 billion of which 70.5 per cent was allocated to
government schools and 29.3 per cent to non-government
schools.(3) A small percentage of capital grant funds is
also allocated to non school organisations for purposes related to
the capital grants program. For instance, in 2001 funding was
provided for a national survey of non-government schools
infrastructure.
From 2004 to 2007 government schools will
receive capital grants funding of $222.3 million each year, per
Schedule 3 of the current Act, compared to $87.4 million per annum
for non-government schools. These amounts will also be supplemented
over the period in line with movements in non-residential building
costs as measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Since the 1992 93 Budget a series of budget
measures have maintained capital funding for non-government schools
at existing levels. The Bill gives effect to the latest budget
measure. It amends Schedule 5 of the current Act to maintain
capital grants for non-government schools at the 2003 level by
providing an additional $48.2 million over four years from 2004 to
2007.
There are a number of issues concerning the
quality of schools infrastructure. According to various reports,
both government and non-government schools are experiencing
problems relating to the state of existing
infrastructure.(4) There are also pressures on
infrastructure provision arising from new directions in curriculum
and teaching methods.(5) Another reported problem is the
pressure on school communities to fundraise and support capital
investment.(6) These issues are made more significant by
research findings which suggest that there is a correlation between
the quality of school infrastructure and educational
outcomes.(7)
Improving literacy and numeracy achievement is
an ongoing educational priority of Commonwealth, State and
Territory governments. National literacy and numeracy goals have
been agreed to by education ministers as well as the implementation
of a National Literacy and Numeracy Plan, the latter including the
development of national benchmarks for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, against
which student progress is now being assessed.(8)
The Bill makes additional provision for
literacy and numeracy programs, including:
- An additional $33.79 million for the Strategic Assistance for
Improving Student Outcomes (SAISO) Programme for 2004; and
- Additional funding for the National Literacy and Numeracy
Strategies and Projects Programme of $3.46 million for 2003 and
$7.41 million in 2004.
The SAISO Programme aims to improve the learning
outcomes of educationally disadvantaged students, particularly in
literacy and numeracy, and the educational participation and
outcomes of students with disabilities. The National Literacy and
Numeracy Strategies and Projects Programme focuses on projects in
the areas of the early and middle years of schooling; the links
between literacy, numeracy and general or vocational pathways in
the post compulsory years; and national strategic and research and
development regarding literacy and numeracy for educationally
disadvantaged students.(9)
All States and Territories are now testing and
reporting against national reading and numeracy benchmarks and the
results are progressively being published through the National
Report on Schooling. (10)At the July 2003 meeting
of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and
Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) all education ministers also agreed in
principle to reporting to parents their children's performance
against the national benchmarks.(11)
On average the performance of Year 3 and 5
students against the national reading benchmarks in 2000 was higher
than the 1999 results, although the Year 5 average performance was
somewhat lower than that for Year 3. The National Report on
Schooling does caution however that there is not yet
sufficient evidence from these results to make judgements about
improvements in standards.(12)
Internationally the mean performance of 15 year
old Australian students in the OECD's Program for International
Student Assessment (PISA) project ranks amongst the highest of OECD
countries.(13) The most recent PISA results indicate
that Australia's mean performance for reading literacy is the
fourth highest among OECD countries with only Finland having a
result that is significantly higher. Australia's mean performance
on the mathematical literacy scale ranks sixth with only Hong Kong
and Japan significantly higher and, on the scientific literacy
scale, Australia ranks eighth with only Korea and Japan
significantly higher.(14)
While these national and international results
are encouraging, the performance of some students remains a
concern, particularly the performance of indigenous students. The
national benchmarking results reveal that in 2000 on average 92.7
per cent of Year 3 students and 89.6 per cent of Year 5 students
were achieving the numeracy benchmark compared to 73.7 and 62.8 per
cent of indigenous students in these year groups. For reading the
results were similar with 89.7 per cent of Year 3 students and 87.4
per cent of Year 5 students achieving the benchmark in 2000
compared to 73.4 and 76.9 per cent of indigenous students in these
year groups.(15)
The PISA results reinforce concerns about the
performance of indigenous students and other groups of students,
including boys, and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds,
rural areas, and language backgrounds other than English (LBOTE).
The results indicate the performance differences of these students
are more pronounced in relation to reading literacy than scientific
and mathematical literacy.
In the case of the national benchmarking results,
the gender differences in numeracy achievement are negligible but
the differences, as with the PISA results, become greater in
relation to reading. The national benchmarking reading results for
LBOTE students are on a par with the national average but in
relation to numeracy LBOTE students perform slightly less well.
To date, data relating to socioeconomic
background and performance against the national benchmarks is not
available. However the National Report on Schooling does
suggest, in analysing the PISA results, that 'we may not be
catering as well as we might for our lower achieving students'
given that Australia has one of the largest spreads in the middle
half of the score range for reading, and also taking into account
those 3 per cent of students who scored in the lowest
range.(16)
Item 1 of Schedule 1 amends
Schedule 5 of the current Act by increasing capital grants for
non-government schools for 2004 to 2007 from $76 940 000 to $87 400
000 per annum.
Item 2 of Schedule 1 amends
Column 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 8 of the current Act and increases
the grants to foster literacy and numeracy for 2003 from $4 292 000
to $7 750 000.
Item 3 of Schedule 1 amends
Column 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 8 of the current Act and increases
grants for strategic assistance for 2004 from $258 164 000 to $291
954 000.
Item 4 of Schedule 1 amends
Column 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 8 of the current Act and provides $7
414 000 for grants to foster literacy and numeracy in 2004.
1.
The Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson, 'A
better future for all Australians record funding for education,
science and training', Media Release, 13 May 2003.
2.
Department of Education, Science and Training, States Grants
(Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 2000: Report on
Financial Assistance Granted to each State in Respect of 2001,
Canberra, 2002.
3.
Department of Education, Science and Training, States Grants
(Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act : Report on
Financial Assistance Granted to each State in Respect of (various
years), DEST, Canberra. (Title varies.)
4.
See, for instance, Department of Education, Science and Training,
Taking Stock: Report of the Survey of Non-Government Schools
Infrastructure in Australia 2000/2001, Canberra, 2002.;
and Gerard Noonan,
'Students and teachers work in sub-standard rooms: report',
Sydney Morning Herald, 24 July 2002, (for more detail see
Chapter 6 of the Second Final Report of the Vinson Inquiry into the
Provision of Education in New South Wales).
5.
See K. Fisher,
'Design for learning in the knowledge age', Educare
News, no. 137, 2003, pp. 15 17 and S. Holden,
'Schools by design', Educare News, no. 137, 2003, pp.
6 8, 10 14.
6.
J. Baird and B. Delaney,
'Parents prop up schools with millions', Sydney Morning
Herald, 30 July 2001.
7.
For example, see
'School architecture can make a difference', The Practising
Administrator, vol. 25, no. 1, 2003, p. 2, and
PricewaterhouseCoopers, 'Building
performance: an empirical assessment of the relationship between
schools capital investment and pupil performance', Research
Report (Great Britain. Department for Education and
Employment), no. 407, 2003.
8.
A decision on the Year 9 benchmarks has been deferred pending the
results from the OECD's Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA).
9.
For further information about these programs see Department of
Education, Science and Training,
Commonwealth Programmes for Schools Quadrennial Administrative
Guidelines 2001 to 2004, Canberra, 2003.
10. For
further information about the Commonwealth's role in literacy and
numeracy programs see the Department of Education, Science and
Training's literacy and numeracy website at http://www.dest.gov.au/schools/LiteracyandNumeracy/index.htm,
11. The Hon. Dr
Brendan Nelson, 'All
States and Territories agree to nationally consistent reporting to
parents', Media Release, 11 July 2003
12. Ministerial
Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs,
National
Report on Schooling in Australia 2000,
Curriculum Corporation for MCEETYA, pp. 49 and 83-86.
13. PISA is a
large scale international assessment of the skills and knowledge of
15 year olds which assesses their performance in reading,
mathematical and scientific literacy. The cycle of assessments
commenced in 2000 and is scheduled to proceed at three yearly
intervals. For further information see website at http://www.pisa.oecd.org/.
14. Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development, Programme for International
Student Assessment, Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow:
Further Results from PISA 2000, OECD and UNESCO Institute for
Statistics, 2003.
15. For further
information see Ministerial Council on Education, Employment,
Training and Youth Affairs, op. cit., chapters 6
and 7.
16. Ibid., p. 40.
Marilyn Harrington
4 September 2003
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2003
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