Public schools in the Northern Territory will receive a funding boost that will lift them to the full School Resource Standard (SRS).
The historic announcement that the NT and federal governments are committed to investing an additional $1.087 billion into the public education system in the Territory from 2025-2029 aims to help re-engage school-aged children who have fallen through the cracks, as well as improve resources for schools and teachers. A focus on school-based mental health is also part of the funding plan.
It will be the first time in the history of the NT that public schools will be at the full SRS.
The announcement comes after the Australian Education Union (AEU) found NT public schools were underfunded by $7978 per student in 2023.
The union’s report projected the funding gap would worsen by 2028 to more than $10,000.
Public schools in the NT are currently underfunded by around 20 per cent – leaving one in five kids not financially supported.
Funding boost will help close the gap
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare says he hopes the money will “glow in the dark” for schools in the NT.
He did not confirm whether a loophole clause – where the NT government can artificially inflate its SRS share by four per cent – will be addressed and removed in the 2024 bilateral agreements.
The joint commitment, said Mr Clare, is about Closing the Gap.
“If little kids fall behind when they’re in first class, second class, third class, only one in five of those kids ever catch up by the time they’re in year nine,” he says.
“If you’re an Indigenous kid, it’s about one in 70.”
Tutoring support helps all students access educational opportunities
Mr Clare said one support solution that delivers genuine results is catch-up tutoring.
“If you get a child out of a classroom of 30 (and) into a class of about three, they can learn as much in six months as you’d normally learn in 12 months,” he said.
“Then it helps them to keep up and finish school.”
Focus on mental health and well-being
He also highlighted the “obvious link” between a child’s physical and mental health and their academic outcomes.
“If you’ve got a mental health challenge when you’re in school, then your results are going to suffer and if your results are suffering… then your mental health is going to suffer at school as well,” Mr Clare said.
Mr Clare said the additional funding can be used to support kids’ well-being, through extra mental health staff being available to schools,
“That can help make a difference in children’s lives so that if they’re experiencing problems at home, or at school, it helps to make sure that they get the support that they need here.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said investing in children and their education early is important, adding that using the money was not a bandaid solution – it was about justice.
“If you don’t address these issues earlier, it costs taxpayers down the road because people aren’t in employment and not paying tax,” he said.
“There’s issues of justice, there’s issues of incarceration, because it costs a lot less to teach a kid in school and give them the opportunity in life than it does to keep them in incarceration down the road.
Mr Albanese said “every young person, no matter where they live or their circumstances, deserves to have the best start to life”.
“Access to a world-class education is critical to that. Education and equality go hand-in-hand, however access to quality education has been out of reach for many in the Northern Territory.”
