Public education for our future: Campaign launch

AUSTRALIA – The Australian Education Union (AEU) have launched a new national campaign calling for parents and teachers to work together to get more Federal Government funding for public schools.

As part of the campaign the union is rolling out a new television advertisement and website that will accompany local activities as teachers and parents join to ensure the Federal Government invests more in public schools.

The campaign launch comes as a national survey of public school principals shows lack of funding is compromising the quality of education in public schools.

The 2008 AEU State of Our Schools survey of 1396 principals across Australia reveals:

• The majority of schools have been forced to fundraise to pay for basic classroom equipment in the past year.

• 69.8 per cent believe their school needs a major upgrade in facilities and/or equipment.

• 100 per cent of secondary schools are reporting teacher shortages and 73.6 per cent believe the problem is worsening.

• 76.1 per cent say lack of federal funding has left their school unable to do basic maintenance on buildings and facilities.

“Kevin Rudd promised an Education Revolution but that will not happen without significant investment in public schools,” said AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos.

“According to our survey of principals the top priorities for additional funding nationally are more help for individual students (80.4 per cent) and building improvements and maintenance (70.8 per cent).

“There is no better investment for the future than in our public schools.”