Rehctub, politicians, the rich and big business are likle the boat people, they are only in Australia to see what they can get from Australia.

You have an interesting point. I'm all for better funding of education, but I am also all for sustainable funding. I work at a school that embraced the 1:1 computer-student ratio as soon as possible. The funds allocated by our government to this project have since dried up, so we are left with a choice: find the money elsewhere (approx. $150,000 a year) or abandon the program. I'm fine with the latter, but we have established expectations (each kid will receive a computer) and found that it is not sustainable. We keep throwing funds at 'projects' in schools but don't look to the long-term future when doing so.

What I wish for, as a teacher, is to have the resources to be able to do the job properly. The Australian Curriculum requires us to conduct novel studies. At my last school, I had a situation in which 32 students had to share 12 copies of a novel between them. We simply didn't have the money to buy full sets. We also had classes permanently timetabled in the library because we didn't have enough classrooms - as it turns out, covered walkways were classified as 'teaching areas' so we were already over-quota. At another school, we had no covered walkways so that we could have enough classrooms, but the kids got drenched (or burnt) walking from one class to another. Both schools had constant construction projects - trade training facilities, industry-standard kitchens ... these things have their place in schools, but I don't think they should come at the expense of the basics.

My suggestion: allocate the funds we have to the basics we need, then see what is needed to make our schools 'world class', rather than simply building a world class veneer on a decaying foundation.

Otokonoko, a very senible post.

You see governments just can't prioritize thier spending, no matter what they do.

It is the same in all levels, no doubt in all states as well.

They have to realize that money can only be spent once, so they must make it count.

One area of concern must be the amount they fork out on consultants fees, you see behind every brain wave, there is no doubt some consultant/s making a killing out of it.

Why not pay half of what they pay and engage retired teaches, heck, many of them would do it for free because they just loved what they did.

I recon government funding (in most things) is tipped into a funnel, whereby it swearls around, being gobbled up by fees etc, then the only bit that reaches the target area is the little bit that comes out of the spout at the bottom. The rest is expended before it reaches it's target. Education, health, the list goes on.

As for taxing the rich and avoiding the scams that some rightly point out, a transaction tax would solve this and many other problems.

Taxing monitory transactions is far more efficient than taxing people's incomes , but for some reason governments simply won't go there.

In fact, it is suggested that a TT of just 2% could see every other tax abolished, including PAYG and GST.

My son pays over $500 in income tax per week, so just imagine how he and many others would feel if they had an extra $464 dollars to spend each week.

Now that would certainly stimulate the economy.

Butch A simplistic approach to education acessment.
It's about time you explained your brand of TT instead of saying it would fix all taxation problems.

It's about time you explained your brand of TT
579,
Are you totally incapable of thinking for yourself ? rehctub's explained it a million times & you still don't get it !

All the posts in this thread are from the mirage of business as usual.
Well, it is not going to be business as usual.
Why do you think Europe and the US are in so much trouble ?
They are running out of GDP surplus to pay their debts.
It is not just a passing fad, it is PERMANENT !

We are going to be forced to build a quite new business model and a lot
of the old financial and taxation practices will not survive.

The sooner we start discussing what will have to change and how, then we will get somewhere.