Rachel spoke on a motion to investigate delays to Victorian public education funding. The government has delayed raising school funding to 75% of the schooling resource standard until 2031. With Victorian schools being the most underfunded in the country, this motion will allow the Legal and Social Issues Committee to investigate the impact of withholding the proposed $2.4 billion from our public education system.
Tuesday the 27th of May 2025,
Victorian Legislative Council
Rachel Payne (South-Eastern Metropolitan):
I rise to make a brief contribution on motion 947 in Anasina Gray-Barberio’s name.
This motion requires the Legal and Social Issues Committee to investigate the impact of the Victorian government’s decision to delay raising school funding to 75 per cent of the schooling resource standard until 2031. This decision rips $2.4 billion out of our public school system. This money was needed to pay for the long-awaited Gonski education reforms addressing social, economic and cultural disadvantages faced by students.
Victorian public schools are the lowest funded in the country, and Victorian teachers are the lowest paid. Low funding means public schools are left with less or poorer quality resources, and the unavoidable result is a lower standard of education for our young people. As this is the Education State, this is something that you would expect the Victorian government to be deeply concerned about. But no, they buried this decision in the budget papers and looked the other way.
At the same time this government is investing over $700 million into our prison system, tightening bail laws and championing the number of young people who are incarcerated. Victorian kids are now the worst off in the country. They are not getting the education they deserve, but they are getting thrown in prison. Victoria is no longer the Education State, it is the prison state.
Education can be the great equaliser, but only when we properly resource the public school system. When home life is difficult, school provides structure, learning and vital connections that some children may have never experienced. I saw this firsthand at the hearings for the inquiry into the state education system in Victoria. Kids who had a troubled start eventually found their stride when they found the right school and supportive teachers. You can see how life-changing a good school is for these kids. They gain confidence, and their relationship with learning completely changes.
A failure to resource public schools to deliver quality education encourages our most vulnerable young people to drop out earlier, with lifelong effects on their quality of life. Young people deserve a world of opportunities and schools that are resourced to give them the skills and knowledge to succeed. By doing this we help break cycles of family trauma and poverty.
When we fail to adequately fund our public schools, we fail an entire generation of young people, embedding social inequities and leaving us all worse off. For these reasons we will be supporting this motion.
Related:
> Criminal reoffending persists unless root causes addressed – Rachel Payne
> Youth Crime Prevention – Rachel Payne
> Inquiry into the State Education System in Victoria – Rachel Payne
