Before the next election we must all understand that Howard's schools funding policy has moved away from the concept of social justice. He has based his schools funding regimes on three evils that are breaking up our society

1. Maldistribution of educational assess and resources so we have to return to needs based funding.

2. Misrecognition of values. His government values exclusion and privilege so we must return to policies of inclusion and withdraw public support for exclusion.

3. Misrepresentation of private education as having some intrinsic value. We must return to a system that values public education and democratic educational leadership above all others so that we can have all children participate in the benefits of being a clever country.

thinks4self

1. Maldistribution of educational assess and resources so we have to return to needs based funding.

You have yet to construct any sort of argument to support your 'needs based funding' point. This is just an ideological point and not a rational one. I assume you will persist with your silly argument that all private school parents are wealthy and privileged. You have not actually proved that point yet either.

2. Misrecognition of values. His government values exclusion and privilege so we must return to policies of inclusion and withdraw public support for exclusion.

State schools are not selective? ? ?Sydney High? ? ?North Sydney High? ? ?James Ruse? ? ? ? Conservatorium High? ? ? ?And of course you can easily choose to send your child to Hurstville school if you live in Collaroy.... if you want to and can afford the travel.Geographical restrictions are probably even more insidious than financial restrictions. Private schools,particularly boarding schools like Kings,pose no geographical exclusions whatsoever. Anyone from anywhere can put their boys into Kings.

3. Misrepresentation of private education as having some intrinsic value. We must return to a system that values public education and democratic educational leadership above all others so that we can have all children participate in the benefits of being a clever country.

You may hold that view if you choose but obviously not everyone feels 'compelled' to share your view as you suggest they ought.You are simply blustering in a vain attempt to impose your ideas on others.Since when did the education department have 'democratically elected' leadership?Actually the NGSs have far more deomcratic processes for appointing school leaders.

I,for one,am not saying that private education has any intrinsic value over and above public education.I am simply saying that it has a right to exist and that while goverment is funding education it should contribute equally to every child in the country.

When are you going to desist from your ideological brabbling and present some well-constructed arguments?You may be surprised,but I would be very glad to hear a decent argument for your case.

Just a couple of words to our gullible or Machiavellian Waterboy

Under J.H. fed public school funding has fallen behind OECD averages
Among 30 OECD countries we rank 18th in public spending but 3rd in funding to private education

The proportion of Ed funding going to public schools has fallen to 35% despite the fact that they educate 70% of kids. Forward estimates say 32% by 2010

This year’s Howard budget gave $1.7 billion to 30% of kids in private schools yet only $330 million to 70% of kids in public schools.

Failure to increase funding to public schools puts increased pressure on parents least able to raise the shortfall needed to provide a decent education for their kids

Waterboy poor families don’t send their kids to private schools

Hey Waterboy now even the Sydney Daily Telegraph
has started highlighting the politically driven funding
of private education by Howard. When this right wing rag exposes Howard's private bias in school funding even the likes of you should cringe with embarrassment

To our blinkered Waterboy

Aimed at accelerating the flow of students from public schools to private schools, between 2005 and 2008 the Howard Government will hand approximately 75% of federal government recurrent funding to private schools which enrol 32% of students

The February 2007 Productivity Commission Report on Government Services reported that for every $1051 spent on students in public schools, the Howard Government chooses to provide $4515 for every student enrolled in a private school. That is 4.3 times as much.

Since the Howard Government was elected, the total share of Federal funding to public schools has declined. (In 1996 public schools received 42% of total school funding. It decreased to 35% in 2006. If this decline is allowed to continue, public schools will only receive 31% of federal schools funding by 2012). The Howard government has no constitutional role to fund one type of educational system.

If public school funding was maintained at even the unacceptable 1996 levels, Australian public schools would be receiving around $1billion more per year than they do now.

With respect to additional schools money, both recurrent and capital, in the financial year 2007/08 the increases translate into $381 per private school student in comparison to $80 per public school student. To close this gap would require $677 million.

The Federal Government's own Schools Resource Taskforce (SRT), established in 2001 by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), has calculated that public schools require an additional $2.9 billion in recurrent funding to ensure that the National Schools Resource Standard necessary to achieve the National Goals of Schooling. Indeed, the $2.9 billion dollars grossly underestimates the true level of funding required as the SRT has not yet calculated costs associated with capital, or specific costs associated with special education or with assuring quality teaching for all students.

All politically inspired, ideologically driven and totally inequitable in a rapidly diverging society .