FED:Parties focus on education this campaign

AAP General News (Australia)
08-20-2010
FED:Parties focus on education this campaign

By Bonny Symons-Brown

CANBERRA, Aug 20 AAP - In a federal election campaign more spin than substance, education
has been one of the few policy areas to consistently focus the attention of both major
parties.

Labor and the coalition have promised the sector millions of dollars during the past
five weeks, aimed at improving teacher and school performance and subsidising classroom
costs for families.

Parents will, of course, welcome extra money for uniforms and excursions, but educators
have raised concerns about policies they say could create an overly-competitive environment
in Australian schools.

For instance, both major parties want to reward outstanding teacher performance with
cash bonuses - a good idea in theory.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard's $1.25 billion scheme will make the nation's top educators
eligible to receive an extra $5400 to $8100 for their hard work, for the five school years
from 2014.

Gillard also promised to give $100,000 to high schools and $75,000 to primary schools
that showed improved academic results and attendance rates, at a cost of $388 million
over five years from 2013.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has countered with $200 million worth of reward funding,
targeted at teachers working in disadvantaged, special-needs and regional schools from
2013.

If teachers selected for that bonus all got the same amount, their extra payment would
be between about $6000 and $6500.

But teachers groups are worried that simplistic eligibility criteria will see some
of their quality colleagues miss out, while schools facing the greatest challenges might
also struggle to be recognised.

In a boon for mums and dads, the coalition trumped Labor's pre-election pledge to extend
the education tax refund to include up to 50 per cent of the cost of school uniforms.

Abbott said a coalition government would boost the refund by $760 million, meaning
the maximum rebate available for primary school children under Family Tax Benefit A would
rise from $390 to $500, and from $779 to $1000 for high school students.

The coalition policy also would make it possible for parents to claim the refund for
private school fees, as well as other expenses such as musical instruments.

Gillard made her own changes to Family Tax Benefit A, vowing to lift it from $51 to
a maximum of $208 fortnightly from 2012 for 16- to 18-year-old students, at a cost of
$668 million over four years.

Educational infrastructure and resources proved to be a campaign stumbling block for
both Labor and the coalition.

The government suffered its blow mid-campaign when an investigation into its school
buildings program found the rush to finish projects had led to cost blowouts of up to
six per cent.

The following week, Abbott - who has pledged to axe the government's computers in schools
program - announced his own $120 million school technology fund to ... put computers in
schools.

The big difference is grants of up to $50,000 would be paid directly to schools, allowing
them to choose what technology they wanted.

Abbott then went back to the future, announcing a return to the Australian technical
colleges Labor abolished to make way for trade training centres in high schools.

A national network of 30 technical colleges would be created during the next four years,
at a cost of $740 million.

AAP bsb/rl/psm/jlw

KEYWORD: POLL10 EDUCATION (AAP BACKGROUNDER) RPT

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