If you looked up at break time on Tuesday 26 March you might have had to explain to students why the letters FU were prominently displayed in the sky. That’s what Brittany was faced with while on playground duty. Eventually the full message emerged: Fund our schools PM. Admittedly, it was a little hard to read by the time the whole message appeared.
Never to miss a teaching moment, Brittany returned to class to give an impromptu civics and citzenship lesson. What prompted this sky writing? Why was the PM being asked to fund our schools? Brittany’s year 5 students learnt that not all schools are funded fairly and that their teacher was going to parliament house that evening to hear Education Minister, Jason Clare talk about what he is doing to address the inequities in school funding.
Brittany’s students wanted to help their teacher lobby the Education Minister (perhaps they didn’t express their actions quite like that – but the intent was the same). They wrote letters to Minister Clare saying that their school was great, but with extra resources it would be even better for their learning. Many students said that they would use extra resources for more chromebooks, interactive whiteboards that worked, and more books for their library. Some said they wanted classrooms big enough to fit all students. Quite a few said that teachers, and Brittany in particular, should be paid more. One student was very specific – Brittany should get a 25% payrise. Almost all students wanted Minister Clare’s autograph.
Brittany did get to meet the Minister and told him about the ideas her students had proposed. Moments later in his address Minister Clare referenced Brittany and the ideas her students had put forward for how extra resources could help an ACT public school. The fact that these basic requirements were needed at an ACT public school (according to some of its students) was not lost on the Minister. He noted that the ACT is the only jurisdiction currently funding its schools at 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). While he is working on getting all states and territories to fund every school to 100% of the SRS, he recognises that this is only the beginning of the challenge ahead. This is a minimum standard. AEU ACT members know only too well that more is required if we are serious about providing an education system that can truly deliver excellence and equity.
The students’ letters have since been delivered to Minister Clare’s office.
AEU ACT principal members are ideally placed to advocate for better and fairer funding of public schools. A strong delegation of AEU ACT principals were in attendance and added their voices to the campaign to fully fund public schools.
