Bills Digest No. 7 2004-05
States Grants (Primary
and Secondary Education Assistance) Legislation Amendment Bill
2004
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) Legislation Amendment Bill
2004
Date
Introduced: 23 June
2004
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Education, Science and
Training
Commencement:
For Schedule 1, Royal
Assent; for Schedule 2, the day on which the Schools Assistance
(Learning Together Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act
2004 receives Royal Assent or 1 January 2005, whichever is the
later date.(1)
The purpose of this bill is to
amend the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education
Assistance) Act 2000 (the current Act) to provide funding for
the Tutorial Credit Initiative in 2004, and to correct a technical
defect in the current Act which will enable
non-government schools to receive their correct 2004 general
recurrent funding entitlement.
The bill also repeals the States Grants (Primary and
Secondary Education Assistance) Act 1992 and the States
Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 1996
which are now redundant.
On 19 May 2004 the Minister for Education, Science and Training,
Dr Brendan Nelson, announced funding of up to $6.85 million for a
pilot Tutorial Credit Initiative.(2) Under this scheme
parents who have received information that their child did not
achieve the Year 3 minimum national reading benchmark in 2003 will
receive a $700 voucher to purchase additional reading assistance
for their child. The Initiative will operate in terms 3 and 4 of
2004.(3) This bill provides additional funding of $11
million which is now necessary following the extension of the
Initiative to all states and territories, except Tasmania.
At the time of the announcement the tutorial credits were only
to be offered in Victoria, Western Australia, the Northern
Territory and the ACT because these jurisdictions were currently
reporting to parents their child's performance against the national
benchmarks. The announcement attracted criticism from the other
states partly because it disregarded the decision made in 2003 by
all education ministers that children's progress against the
national benchmarks would begin to be reported to parents by the
end of 2004. (4)
Dr Nelson subsequently wrote to the state education ministers in
NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania and extended the
offer to their states provided they reported to parents by 30
June.(5) All of these states except Tasmania agreed to
do this and are now included in the Initiative. Parents of
non-government school students in Tasmania will be eligible for the
vouchers because non-government schools in that state do report to
parents their child's performance against the national
benchmarks.
Other criticisms of the Initiative have focused on logistical
and pedagogical matters, such as the availability of suitable
qualified tutors in all regions, the capacity of some parents to
seek assistance for their children, the relationship to school
learning generally and the inadequate resourcing of existing
remedial reading programs in schools.(6) There have been
calls that the money would be better utilised by being directed to
schools. The Australian Education Union National Principals
Committee (NPC) for instance argued that the money should be
provided to schools to support existing intensive remedial programs
such as Reading Recovery which take account of the student's total
learning program.(7)
The Australian Labor Party has welcomed the Initiative although
critical of the initial process and calling for increased support
to schools with high numbers of children with reading
difficulties.(8)
The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) is now
in the process of calling for tenders for brokers to administer the
Initiative. These brokers will contract the tutors, issue vouchers,
and provide advice to parents. Further information about the
operation of the Initiative is available on DEST's Tutorial
Credit Initiative website.
The Australian Government's socioeconomic status (SES) system
for providing general recurrent grants to non-government schools
was introduced in 2001.(9) The implementation
arrangements for the new system allowed for the funding increases
to schools to be phased in from 2001 to 2004 at the rate of 25 per
cent of the increase each year, with schools being fully funded at
their new SES funding level by 2004. Another purpose of this bill
is to correct a technical fault in the current Act which prevents
schools receiving their correct entitlement in 2004. As the current
Act stands schools will receive 100 per cent of their SES funding
increase added to their indexed base amount which would be due to
them if the previous Education Resources Index (ERI) system of
general recurrent funding for non-government schools still applied.
This amount is less than their full entitlement under the SES
system. According to the Minister's second reading speech on the
bill, over 700 non-government schools are
affected.(10)
This measure has no financial impact as the funds are already
committed.
Items 1 to 6 of Schedule 1
correct the technical fault in the current Act relating to the
phasing in of the general recurrent funding increases for
non-government schools.
Item 7 of Schedule 1 amends
Column 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 8 of the current Act and increases
grants to foster literacy and numeracy in 2004 from $7 414 000 to
$18 433 000, providing the additional funding necessary for the
Tutorial Credit Initiative.
Items 1 and 2 of Schedule 2
repeal the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education
Assistance) Act 1992 and the States Grants (Primary and
Secondary Education Assistance) Act 1996 which are now
redundant.
-
The provisions do not commence at all if the Schools
Assistance (Learning Together Achievement Through Choice and
Opportunity) Act 2004 does not receive Royal
Assent.
-
B. Nelson (Minister for Education, Science and Training), '$700
for parents of students falling behind in reading', Media
Release, 19 May 2004,
http://www.dest.gov.au/Ministers/Media/Nelson/2004/05/n708190504.asp,
accessed on 12 July 2004.
-
National benchmarks in literacy and numeracy for years 3, 5 and
7 had been agreed to in 1998 and 2000. For further information
about national literacy and numeracy policy, including the
benchmarks, and Australia's literacy and numeracy performance, see
Marilyn Harrington, 'States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education
Assistance) Amendment Bill 2003', Bills Digest, no. 25,
Department of the Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2003 04,
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bd/2003-04/04bd025.pdf,
accessed on 12 July 2004.
-
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth
Affairs, Information Statement, 15th MCEETYA Meeting,
Perth, 10-11 July 2003, http://www.mceetya.edu.au/meetings/meet15.htm,
accessed on 12 July 2004.
-
See, for example, B. Nelson (Minister for Education, Science and
Training), '$700 for parents of NSW students falling behind in
reading', Media Release, 28 May 2004,
http://www.dest.gov.au/Ministers/Media/Nelson/2004/05/nNSW715280504.asp,
accessed on 12 July 2004.
-
See, for example, J. Calvert, 'Literacy fears spelt out: tutors
may not be qualified', Herald Sun, 20 May 2004,
http://parlinfoweb.parl.net/parlinfo/view_document.aspx?id=627317&table=PRESSCLP,
accessed on 12 July 2004.
-
Australian Education Union, 'Principals slam Minister's reading
voucher', Media Release, 29 May 2004, http://www.aeufederal.org.au/Media/MediaReleases/2004/2805.pdf,
accessed on 12 July 2004.
-
J. Macklin (Shadow Minister for Employment, Education and
Training), 'Howard Government follows Labor's lead on children's
literacy', media release, 19 May 2004,
http://parlinfoweb.parl.net/parlinfo/view_document.aspx?id=90516&table=PRESSREL,
accessed on 12 July 2004.
-
For an explanation of the Australian Government's system of
general recurrent funding for schools see Marilyn Harrington,
Commonwealth General Recurrent Grants for Schools A Brief
Explanation, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, [2004],
http://libiis1/Library_Services/electoralatlas/SchoolGrants/Explanation.htm,
accessed on 12 July 2004.
-
Brendan Nelson, Minister for Education, Science and Training,
'Second reading speech: States Grants (Primary and Secondary
Education Assistance) Legislation Amendment Bill 2004', House of
Representatives, Debates, 23 June 2004, p. 30394.
Marilyn Harrington
26 July 2004
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2004
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Published by the Parliamentary Library, 2004.
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