Extracts from submissions
Submissions on education funding
A. Brooker, Geraldton Grammar School, WA
"The Educational Resources Index on which government funding is based is dependent on fees charged. For this reason rural schools have the same income as their city counterparts. However, given the generally higher prices of goods and services, schools can buy less for their dollar. Equity suggests that whatever the system is used to assess a schools recurrent government grants the school's remoteness should be a factor. In this respect a change from using the Educational Resources Index to Socio Economic Status may go part of the way towards redressing the balance."
Astra Warren, Lesmurdie, WA
"I am a qualified teacher with 40 years experience.now semi retired. Over the past 8 years I have been taking tutor positions on stations in the Gascoyne-Murchison area of Western Australia.
"I have a constant stream of enquires seeking my help. My particular interest is remedial English an attitude problems, but since I am a self funded retiree and most stations are on a limited budget, I can only afford to take two or three positions each year. The REVISE voluntary scheme is excellent in its way, but does not address deeper problems which should have been solved years earlier.
"My suggestion is a funding initiative to pay normal salary rates to itinerant teachers of experience prepared to be residential in the country, working within the normal correspondence lessons, alongside School of the Air. Six weeks would be my estimate of a minimum effective period, stretching to 1 or 2 terms if necessary."
Last updated 2 December 2001.
